A contract has been agreed with Kingplace to acquire and relaunch business-class only airline Silverjet in a ”matter of weeks” after it ceased operations last month.
”We are pleased to have agreed principal terms with Kingplace to relaunch the airline,” said Bagbies Traynor”s ” Silverjet administrator - Mark Fry.
This agreement is excellent news for the company”s suppliers, staff and loyal customers,”
Silverjet chief executive Lawrence Hunt said: ”I am personally delighted that we now have the necessary backing from a long-term investor to relaunch Silverjet. We have received fantastic support from our staff, customers and partners in helping us put the deal together.”
Silverjet began flying from its London Luton base to New York Newark in January 2007, adding Dubai services in November. But the carrier ran into financial difficulty in May when oil prices soared and suffered a major decrease in bookings resulting in shares being suspended on the 23 May.
However, there were optimistic noises for the carrier as a loan was expected by United Arab Emirates-based Viceroy, but the cash injection did not materialise in time resulting in operations being shut down by Silverjet on the 30 May. The airline was the third business class-only to fold after Maxjet and Eos.
Speculation in the last few weeks has been rife concerning the airline”s potential return as Hunt claimed the carrier was in talks with new investors prepared to inject funds so that services could recommence.
”Kingplace can confirm that it has agreed terms with Begbies Traynor to acquire Silverjet,” said Kingplace chairman of heritage and director Ian Illsley. ”If these negotiations are successful, we expect to take on all of the existing staff, to honour Silverjet”s existing customers” tickets and see Silverjet return to the skies in a matter of weeks.”
Hunt added, ”We will be working around the clock to launch our New York and Dubai services as quickly as possible and we will make an announcement about the date for relaunching our services in due course.”
Further details are expected this afternoon