Maxjet consultant and former easyJet managing director, Ray Webster, says that the Stansted carrier is very unlikely to move from its Essex base to Luton ” contrary to rumours.
Speaking to ABTN on the Maxjet inaugural flight from Stansted to Los Angeles yesterday (30 August), Webster said that it was very unlikely that the dedicated business class only airline would move to Luton.
Webster now acts as a consultant to Maxjet, while Paul Kehoe, the former Luton Airport CEO, is a non executive member of the airline”s board.
Webster made it clear that he acts as an adviser rather than a member of the airline”s management team. ”I am here to run my rule over the airline in terms of efficiency and keeping costs down,” he said, noting that Luton was a non-starter with its short runway of 2,160m (7,087ft) as against Stansted”s 3,048m pavement.
This would rule out long-range operations such as the 11h Stansted ” Los Angeles flight, and typically London ” Singapore at 12h, a possible future destination.
”In any event Stansted seems to work very well and the airline is satisfied with the service provided,” Webster added.
Maxjet provides services from the Essex airport to New York JFK, Washington, Las Vegas, and now Los Angeles. On a daily basis it offers more business class seats across the North Atlantic from the UK to the US than any other carrier with the exception of British Airways, according to figures provided by OAG.
Maxjet was the first of a new breed of ”affordable alternative” airlines and began operations out of Stansted in November 2005. It was quickly followed by Eos, also from Stansted and earlier this year by Silverjet that chose Luton as its base.
Eos, with its 48-seat narrow-bodied Boeing 757, is aiming at the upper echelon of the business travel market, while Silverjet is configured with 100 seats on a wide-bodied 767. Both have module lie flat seats.
Maxjet, the cheapest of the three and at prices sometimes as much as one third of that charged by the majors, has a 60” (152cm) seat pitch, but offers more traditional reclining seats. The airline uses a 767 with a 102 passenger capacity and a 2+2+2 layout.
Passengers use the airport”s ”Fast Track” service and benefit from a dedicated lounge.