To those who think that the Silver Jet business model won't/doesn't work, ask yourselves why is it that Big Airways are launching a business only London-New York service in the near future?
Because there is money to be made in it, might be the answer.

Maybe rumours were spread to the city from undisclosed sources? Competition drowned at birth to enable the big brother to thrive? Remember Laker and Virgin, both attacked, one survived. Conspiracy theories rule!

Good luck to them if they do get going again.


Maybe because they have the big buisness clients secured on long standing contracts!! That new start ups can't even get close to.

What for? to restart operations, or shut down completely?

To those who think that the Silver Jet business model won't/doesn't work, ask yourselves why is it that Big Airways are launching a business only London-New York service in the near future?
Because there is money to be made in it, might be the answer.

Yeah right, you reckon. Another of BA follies methinks!!

The business model does work but as Silverjet has demonstrated you need substantial funds behind it to get over the start up costs until you can make money on it. Silverjet has a good model, just needs the right long term investment.

BA has the money and very reduced startup costs as the aircraft and a lot of expertise are coming from mainline, plus they have an established brand and corporate clients, who will probably make the bulk of the London City - New York passengers.

I hope Silverjet comes through but my guess is the brand is damaged now and it will take a lot to restore it, and with the rising cost of fuel their fares might have to rise, which could push potential customers to the majors, who are able to reduce fares and take a hit.

please come back!!
 

Silverjet had a great product! hope this new potential investor can bring them back in the game...just before it went under they were generating 95% loads and much higher yields than earlier in the year. I think customers will be sympathetic if they start up again...

Those dodgey UAE investors who held on for so long and then just couldn't produce the goods are not to be trusted,Silverjet shouldn't try to deal with them again. They'll only just take it out to Dubai anyway!

Silverjet to fly again...

This is excellent news, and it should be applauded!

Why is the city of London knocking this company. Certain 'brokers' were panning the company from day 1... Its outrageous that such 'qualified people' could possibly do harm to a company they know absolutely nothing about...

Maybe Birdseed Airways has had a finger in the pie somewhere - who knows. However, the rumour that Birdseed were 'looking' at Silverjet does pose a question or two.

I do think Silverjet should be allowed to get on with their business - which is soley aimed at Business Class passengers. Its a market that is growing (Just look at Netjets) If another company such as Birdseed want in on the action, then so be it, but it will be very difficult for them to actually operate a service from LCY with only 2 aircraft! Clutching at straws, missed the boat, bolting the door after the horse has gone etc etc... Openskies - the agreement - has opened up BAs home base to everyone and anyone so let the games begin!

Personally, I cant wait to see what the next 12 months brings!

Go for it Silverjet. Now is your chance to re-establish yourself and prove these city *ankers wrong!

:ok:

The thing is though Tristar, the guys down at canary wharf want to fly from LCY they dont want to go to a regional airport ie. Luton to travel on an aircraft that was never designed to do what SJ want it to do . You can paint an old 767 up in a fancy paint job and make the interior fancy but it doesnt disguise the fact that the airframes have some miles on them !!!! The 318s that BA are getting are brand spanking new and are being kitted out to do the job they are intended to do from the start , i am not knocking Silverjet and the product that they are trying to deliver, but maybe smaller new airframes are the way to go when trying to deliver this high end product and not just converting a large old aircraft that was designed to do a different job.

Silverjet's target market was primarily for city *ankers. Really?
 

moarlowe, SJ have to start somewhere as does every start up does with their choice in a/c. A low leasing cost of an older 76 determined lower operating costs!

They were about to go for the 200ERs'. BA is no comparison; SJ's real market was the in-between premium economy/business class passengers, not necessarily the city banker don't you think?

I know what you are saying Banterman regards start up ,and that a lease on an older airframe is probably cheaper but is it? I think that there is a niche market for a high end product that sits somewhere between business/First class and the private business jet market, and if properly addressed with the right airframe and inflight experiance, and correct destination would work. Three Business type airlines have gone bust in the last year all with the same type of business model, so on the surface you could conclude that there is not the market for this type of service, but i disagree I think that you need to look at the model with a different perspective and possibly BA may have just got what is required.

Very best of luck to all at Silverjet. If the Investors have the confidence to settle the creditors, pay the staff, post the size of bond that the CAA ERG will now require, pay upfront to reorganise the engineering cover - then they have deep pockets indeed and must genuinely believe the businessplan will work.
No reason they're wrong, (and they're not necessarily right), but the model deserves to succeed.

Fingers crossed!:ok:

Can we eliminate "Rent a Muppet" and " My airline knowledge is gained from computer games" people here?

And can we start with Banterman who patently has zero understanding of he mechanics of the market for business travel!

Wouldn't it be a good idea for XL to purchase SJ, Then run SJ alongside XL's fleet of current 76's??:D

What made me think of this, Is if Peter Owen is returning to restart SJ.

SJ could be renamed something like 'XL EXEC' the same product as before but owned by the XL Leisure Group, Or part owned etc.

XL's 76's could sub for the EXEC side when short, And vice versa.

And also the engineering side of the combined fleets.

Obviously it would be at a cost to the XL Group, But could also be an investment in the long run.:hmm:

I think the only way SJ would have a more secure future would be to 'pair up' with a company as XL.:D

All SJ needs is that initial 'push' from a major player.

I do believe there is a demand for whole Business Airlines as SJ.
And it was proved with 3 years of op's.

Then Mr Owen would have 2 in 1, & a bigger POW fan club..:}

I think now is the critical time that our Airlines need to work together to save each other from sudden death, Not compete against each other:D

As 2008 is just a 'wake up' call - 2009 will be a very unhappy year to all of us and that's inevitable.:*

We are losing an Airline/operator 1 every 5 days.:ugh::sad:

Don't shoot the messenger...
 

'Ian Ilsley, chairman of Heritage and a director of Kingplace, said that the group intended to take on all existing staff and to honour Silverjet’s existing customers’ tickets. He said that Silverjet could return to the skies “in a matter of weeks”.'

Quoted from the Times...

Silverjet has not exactlty had an easy ride, with supposed investors not coming up trumps... but we are attempting to make things right... with the right support.

Silver Lining for Silver Jet?
 

Just read this on ATW this morning. Hope it goes through. :ok:Good luck to the guys and gals at S/J:ok:!


http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=12991

SilverJet Announcement
 

See also:

http://www.flysilverjet.com/docs/Sil..._June_2008.pdf

See also http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=330668

Silverjet saviour's companies show late filing and losses


By Alistair Osborne

Last Updated: 1:08am BST 12/06/2008





The businessman fronting the proposed rescue of business class-only airline Silverjet is a director of late-filing companies, whose most recent venture has left investors nursing heavy losses.
Ian Ilsley, 59, is a director of Kingplace, the Ireland-registered company that is hammering out final terms of Silverjet's rescue with administrator Begbies Traynor.
Mr Ilsley also chairs a Geneva trust and management company, Heritage Cie SA, that manages Kingplace, whose offer is being made on behalf of undisclosed private clients.
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http://m.uk.2mdn.net/1042493/MtM300x250Wifi.gif
Kingplace intends to relaunch Silverjet, which flew from Luton to Dubai and New York, within the next few weeks and is working with the carrier's chief executive, Lawrence Hunt.
Monaco-based Mr Ilsley is most recently known to UK investors as the chairman and finance director of Sandhaven Resources, an Irish-registered company formed to acquire and develop oil and gas assets.
It is registered on the Plus Markets junior exchange, where its shares have collapsed from around 175p a year ago to 34½p yesterday, valuing the group at £24.3m. Sandhaven made €74,000 losses (£58,600) in its most recent half year.
On May 30, Sandhaven said its full-year results, due to be announced that day, were "still being finalised by the company's auditors". They are now due by Friday - when Kingplace plans to complete the Silverjet deal.
When Sandhaven began trading on Plus in May 2007, Mr Ilsley's current UK directorships were listed as BASE Management (UK), Garnham & Co Management (UK), Marine and Aviation Services, Napier Properties, TNTC, Tulah Yachts and Yachting Ventures.
Companies House searches show that BASE and Yachting Ventures each have shareholder funds of only £2, while Napier is dormant and Tulah has never filed accounts, which like BASE's are now overdue.

This from Daily Telegraph today - hope it all goes OK for the company!

Matt.

I do not want to rain on anyones parade but this company does not exactly come with glowing testimonials. I am sure that if it is to succeed it must restart without delay and if so in todays worsening climate can it really last. I hope that the staff will not ultimately suffer once more.

Google found...


http://www.sandhaven.net/about.html

http://www.sandhaven.net/images/ian.jpg

http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktgui...rsonId=1110172

I'm afraid this could be too little too late - I mean who - customers and staff are going to go back...........once bitten twice shy......

The business model is fatally flawed. To even survive today an airline needs to be able to extract the best results from a mix of high volume and high yield traffic.
Turning their back on half the revenue stream is (was) suicide.

Which is why BA are about to launch just this type of service from Heathrow!

I said "an airline needs to be able to extract the best results from a mix of high volume and high yield traffic"

BA has plenty of economy traffic.

To start an airline which has NO high volume traffic is too risky, as Silverjet has shown.

Chaps,

Just a thought...........

If BA and Virgin weren't too worried about SJ why would they be offering cheap rates and good air miles offers? If they weren't concered then they'd just plod on and wait for the business to come to them.

They must be worried about something.

L Met

The model is not flawed, it just needs significant capital behind it to get over the start up costs. The boss of BA said so himself when asked about EOS and Maxjet.

It will be from London City, and there is also the Openskies venture from continental Europe.

At BA the only service we are launching is from LCY. Futhermore we are leasing 4 x 777 which will like a number of our other 77's does not have 'first'. First and Club bookings have taken a 2% downturn in the last month. Much of Silvers service that attracts the punter is the late check-in but that is offered by Virgin from LHR.

Whatever the outcome of LCY and its 2 x 318's BA can easily write that off if it makes no monies. The LCY operation is nothing whatsoever like silver it will have new economic aircraft and will require only the minimum ground handling costs. Our Open Skies service is now going to operate as a codeshare with another EU operator that has been flying a similar service to the USA for a couple of years now thus minimising the risk.

Finally all airlines offer advantages like Air Miles and I .do not know when WW made any comments about the niche market operators. He has more than enough to worry and concern himself with at LHR / LGW. As loads get worse this summer I would not be suprised to see many offers from the USA carriers out of LHR that will futher deflate everyones earnings.

Be carefull, guys at Silverjet, try not to let other job offers pass on you by.
Been in the situation as well, more than once, and staying is not always the best option.

A318 versus B777
Which one will the excutive choose
A318 M.76 LCY-NYC 8hrs +
B777 M.84 LON-NYC 7.30
Same legroom and service in both. A318 frequency once a day B777 numerous.
Or, if you were really that important would you not go private on a corporate jet and enjoy much less risk from the boys from AQT?

all silverjet staff made redundant as there is no rescue

If you had bothered to read the threads on this oyu would know the asnwer. LCY is to avoid the nightmare that is Heathrow, LHR rather than LON as you suggest. You can be sitting on the plane relaxed and working a couple of hours earlier and still be on US soil at around the same time if not before.

As I have said before - the basic business plan is not flawed - but you do not launch a premium service at end of the financial cycle. As the recession takes hold, all carriers are going to suffer and across all sections of the market. However, I expect that the BA 318s out of LCY will do well not least because they have money to back them and will be nicely worked in by the time the next upturn occurs.

Not just the nightmare at LHR but isn't the plan to clear US customs in SNN and avoid the ever-so-slightly less nightmarish arrival through JFK?

Apparently the investment deal is far from concluded.....

alexp4mes is that official ??

Rescue deal fallen through
 

http://ukpress.google.com/article/AL...2eTIZxuKN7WjDg

All 300 workers at collapsed business-class airline Silverjet were laid off after a rescue deal fell through.
Swiss investor Kingplace had provisionally agreed to take over the Luton Airport-based carrier after it fell into administration a fortnight ago.
But administrator Begbies Traynor said that, due to "unusually complex negotiations" with third parties, Kingplace was "no longer in a position to acquire Silverjet as a going concern

Times online this afternoon
 

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle4130007.ece


Sadly looks like the end of Silverjet as a going concern. Much sympathies to all staff and hope they get new positions soon.

IainB

:bored:

Sorry for multiple posting, we must all have hit the button at the same time.

That's a damn shame. Hope you guys and gals get new jobs soon.

Silverjet sacks all staff
 

Sad news.

I found it odd, that a prospective buyer had come along, when an airline is just what you don't want in a portfolio at the moment.

I presume the third parties mentioned would be the creditors.