Business Class-only operator, Silverjet, says it remains confident its model will continue to succeed despite a slew of new entrants onto the market.
Addressing the Institute of Economic Affairs” Low Cost Transport Summit today (14 June), Silverjet chief executive, Lawrence Hunt, recognised that carriers such as British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic were potential competitors, but insisted his airline had the right tools to maintain market share.
”A lot of the legacy carriers have lost sight of the customer during the past five years,” he said, adding: ”BA has just spent a lot of money on new beds, but that isn”t all that the customer wants.
Echoing a theme common to the two-day summit, Lawrence continued: ”It is the whole end to end experience and 90% of customers we talk to are critical of Heathrow for example.
”BAA wants passengers to arrive three hours before the flight so that they can get their credit cards out.”
Lawrence added it would be very hard for the legacy airlines to compete from their home turf, that is, London, maintaining the existing high yields from business class that effectively subsidise those at the back. Any future downturn, he noted, could firm up economy prices, making his headline ”999 return fare able to compete at both top end economy and premium economy levels.
”BA will try to weaken Lufthansa out of Frankfurt and Air France from Charles de Gaulle, but the difficulty is they might cannibalise their own business traffic. They are very dependent on business class and so we decided to take them on in their heartland to New York.”
The Silverjet chief executive noted that there were around 30 thick routes out of London that would work for his carrier”s model, especially from a growing business clientele.
Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and South Africa were all cited as potential destinations, served by an eventual fleet size of ten aircraft by 2010. ”I think the growth prospects out of London and potentially out of European hubs, are very good,” he added.
Virgin has said it will set up a business class only airline, operating out of Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Zurich to New York, followed by an unspecified UK departure point.