Mixed results for carriers offering business class only service

For some carriers, the business-class-only approach hasn’t worked out so well.

Silverjet, which was offering service between London and Newark (New Jersey) closed its operations in May, citing staggering fuel prices and the lack of capital as the reasons.

Two other carriers offering all-premium seating, Eos Airlines and MAXjet Airways, also went out of business over the last several months.

Some foreign carriers, such as Singapore Airlines, however, still consider the all-premium concept to be viable. Singapore Airlines initiated three-times-a-week non-stop, business-class-only flights to Newark – and the frequency has been increased to daily service.

Lufthansa, which for a number of years has offered daily business-class-only non-stop service between Dusseldorf and Newark, is planning to add a similar service on the Munich-Boston route, in October.

A new subsidiary of British Airways, OpenSkies, has launched a service between Paris Orly and JFK Airport in New York. This represents the first of several direct, trans-Atlantic routes that previously were not available to the British carrier.

It seems that plenty of travellers are willing to pay thousands of dollars for comfortable seats, extra room, and good food and wine.

“We really think the all-premium product has a lot of legs,” said Ron DiLeo, the senior vice president for marketing and sales at OpenSkies.

www.flyopenskies.com