V-Flyer

Just had this newsflash email.

AIM-listed business-only carrier MAXjet 'has today [Friday] requested that the trading of its common stock be suspended with immediate effect pending clarification of its financial position'.

No link or details yet.


Nick

Oops. That's a bit unexpected.

Is it Maxjet that put bumped customers into Upper Class? Maybe this is the reason!

(Come on EOS, Buy MaxJet. Pilots would only need to do differences training. MX folks would know the a/c. Routes are similar. In-Flight services are different but that could be sorted.)

Looks like bye bye maxjet.

...or if you read FT.COM they are still recommending Buy Buy Maxjet at 14.10 [;)]

Very few details still available.
Quote from Silverjet COE Laurence Hunt, CEO of rival Silverjet, said that 'The airline industry is hugely competitive, which has been starkly illustrated by today's announcement.' Silverjet has made available a limited number of seats to MAXjet customers who have booked for today or tomorrow.

The inference from that is that Maxjet are no longer flying, but there is no message saying that on the the Maxjet website as far as I can see.

Nick

FT quote says business as usual:
Link

Not that you'd catch me wanting to book a flight with them right now....

Originally posted by mcmbenjamin
(Come on EOS, Buy MaxJet. Pilots would only need to do differences training. MX folks would know the a/c. Routes are similar. In-Flight services are different but that could be sorted.)

Well rumours I have heard have indicated that EOS has been eyeing up MAxjet for a long while. Believe they are waiting to go in and rescue it. Am not surprised if we see a MAx/Eos merger- competition is fierce at the moment and is going to get worse once the full effect of open skies is felt.

so what if money is an object here, what if a person has booked Maxjet flights, connecting flights and hotels all of which have cost actual pounds and pence but all direct though hotels and airlines and not through a travel agent, if Maxjet goes bust are you up proverbial creek without paddle, starting to worry here!

I don't think MAXjet are ABTA bonded, so you may have to check the details of your travel insurance and/or credit card company if they do cease flying.

Booking direct with hotels is less of an issue because generally you pay on departure, unless you've booked a deeply-discounted promotional rate, in which case it's part of the risk of cheaper rates - but again, you should go back to your travel insurance to check if you're covered.

I think one of the problems with MAXjet is that they expanded a bit too quickly, while EOS simply concentrated on the one route first by adding frequency.

Although I have respect for MAXjet for the way they've brought Business Class service and flights to a wider audience (which VS seem to have forgotten as the reason they are where they are now) it is a competitive market which they seemed to have jumped the gun a bit and hope that it's sorted out soon enough.

EOS/MAXjet merger hmmmmm. I was always under the impression that EOS were aiming towards pax who would book BA First while MAXjet went after VS PE/UCS market.

Let start by saying I am a big Maxjet fan... A well kept secret on here I know [:I]

Originally posted by VS075
I think one of the problems with MAXjet is that they expanded a bit too quickly

Kind of right yes.

There are/were a number of problems with Maxjet, the first of which was the Washington service.

In the early days using older aircraft thats reliability was so so the Washington service was the one that bit the bullet, the problem was that in routing the pax up to JFK to take that flight they wrecked their own schedule, this fact became quickly known amongst the traveling professionals and caused a great deal of pax to skip MY altogether.

That of course hurt the yields (yield is the amount of profit the airline makes per pax for those of us that do not where the Pink Anorak [:I]) with EVERY flight going out losing money and the airline unable to raise fares because those business travelers that buy the full fare last minute ticket avoided them due to the schedule issue.

They never really got the corporate contracts which can be the life blood for an airline on the NYC-LON route.

They marketed themselves as a business airline...however the product isn't there, it is a business product from 2 generations ago, IMHO they would of been better off marketing themselves as a PE airline, instead of going head to head with the VS UC and BA NNCW product they could of gone up against the PE/WT+ class and beaten them.

They don't have any domestic feed, a partner ship with an airline like JetBlue would of fixed a lot of problems, also they have planes in LA and LAS that were constantly being shuttled around, why not set flights into the schedule to go from LA/LAS - JFK, make money while the planes are flying.

The FF program sucked, plain and simple in is right up there with Ryan Airs [B)]...get my point ?

Lastly...$100 a barrel oil...this little fact is going to kill a few airlines in the next couple of years of they can't raise fares [:#]

Ok...getting off my soap box [:D]

Great views Scrooge - interestingly Silverjet are also expanding, buying two 767-300 ERs from Thomson I think. They say yields are good and above expectations on their new Dubai route. Be interesting to watch and I think they do have a genuinely more business class service - and sometimes the prices to match!

[:0][:0] I am flying out to Vegas with them on the 22nd. Better check my travel insurance. I booked using my Amex so at least costs would be covered, little consolation if they cancel my flights though. Where would I get flights at a reasonable price this close to Xmas. Hope all turns out OK.[xx(]

Originally posted by slinky09
Great views Scrooge - interestingly Silverjet are also expanding, buying two 767-300 ERs from Thomson I think. They say yields are good and above expectations on their new Dubai route. Be interesting to watch and I think they do have a genuinely more business class service - and sometimes the prices to match!

I believe that all of their 767-200ERs (except for the one they got from Flyjet) are all ex-Thomsonfly. No 767-300ERs are in the Silverjet fleet.

Originally posted by VS075

I believe that all of their 767-200ERs (except for the one they got from Flyjet) are all ex-Thomsonfly. No 767-300ERs are in the Silverjet fleet.

Correct. Whole Y7 fleet is 762's and they are all ex TOM aicraft- except for the Flyjet one. There has been talk of them asking Boeing if they can purchase brand new 762's in the next 4 years.

Tbh I think Silverjet are going at the industry in the right way. They are almost doing what VS did 23 years ago. They have sponsored a number of events to get the name across, used high profile adverts, have created a true difference between them and other airlines (exclusive terminal at LTN and DXB) etc etc.

As for Maxjet- time will tell. I think that they wont be around for too long which is a real shame.

Better late than never, they have at last issued a statement saying that there will be no cancellations.

Full details of the statement can be found on the Maxjet website.

Hmmm. Call me cynical, but I am not inspired to rush out and buy a ticket for mid to late 2008. [:w]

Nick