It reported January load factor of 54%, below the 12-month average of 58%, and the proclaimed break-even point of 64%.

Stocks closed at under 30GBP, down from the 52-week high of 214GBP.

There have been a lot of bad rap coming from the stock market in the last few weeks, but the company says they're doing fine and is expanding.

It may be true, but we also heard the same up until Maxjet shut its door last December.

This was in the Times yesterday saying "Give Silverjet a break":

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/...cle3376027.ece

Much more positive. Rosy future...

<i>&quot;I personally think there’s little to worry about at the moment&quot;</i> may be correct, but from what does he feel <i>&quot;the airline has a rosy future&quot;</i>?

The business model doesn't work. Period. Successful January sale? Far lower fares than traditional carriers?

How are those going to make the airline money?

How fast is it burning its cash reserve?

I hope the business model does work because having flown them I think they're incredible value.

If you want to travel business class and you're not getting your ticket paid by the company (as I used to a lot on VS and BA) then Silverjet's just what you want.

My advice: Fly it while you can. How can the business model works? If it does, then Maxjet will still be here, and SIL won't be trading at &pound;15.5. Check my original post. Just 2 weeks ago, it was &pound;30, and 52-week high is &pound;214.

I will continue to boycott Silverjet and suggest others follow suit. One lavatory on the plane is reserve for Women Only. The remainder of the lavatories are unisex. There are no lavatories reserved for men only essentially giving women access to more lavatories. Discrimination should not be tolerated. I don't understand the need this.

<i>&quot;I will continue to boycott Silverjet and suggest others follow suit. One lavatory on the plane is reserve for Women Only. The remainder of the lavatories are unisex. There are no lavatories reserved for men only essentially giving women access to more lavatories. Discrimination should not be tolerated. I don't understand the need this.&quot;</i>

You are kidding right? I would think this is because a) women are more concerned about bathrooms, and b) women, on average, spend around twice as long in the loo as men. This is why FedEx field has something like double the # of women's bathrooms. Just seems a bit silly and not worth getting worked up over.

&quot;a) women are more concerned about bathrooms, and b) women, on average, spend around twice as long in the loo as men.&quot;

I am not kidding. Airplane lavatories are for one person only, whereas terminal restrooms serve multiple people. In a single occupancy bathroom, does it really matter if women spend twice as long in it? I don't support discrimination against women and will not support discrimination against men either.

Makes a great commercial though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYDohoobOw

Saw a great BBC's 60 Minutes type news report about the new Open Skies agreement.

The aviation investment specialists interviewed about this new agreement, all unanimously agreed that this agreement will not do very much for economy fares because they are at the lowest they can be at the moment, but all agreed that it will have immediate impact on business/first class fares.

It looks like they are at least partially correct already. BA fired the first salvo and announced lower business class seats starting starting JUN1 through AUG31. I understand it's summer time but nevertheless it's 3 long months of cheap J fares. These fare wars are designed to steal passengers from others. While they won't steal all and it may be just 5-10%, that hurts a small airline like SilverJet the most.

Let's not forget that the economies on both sides of the Atlantic are not exactly turning on all cylinders. There will be some cooling in the demand for airline travel.

NY-LON - ~$2400 R/T all in
CHI-LON ~$100 higher
LA-LON - about $300 more
MIA-LON - same as CHI
and so on and on.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_us

With these type of fares the other major European and US airlines starting to fly the same routes will have no choice but to match BA.

This will leave SilverJet in a pickle. Either they lower their fares even more which they can't because they'll die a slow death or find some other ways to compete, which will be difficult going against the majors.

I actually believe the Open Skies agreement is the first nail in the coffin for these all business class start ups. It won't happen overnight but SilverJet definately has it's work cut out for them if they still want to be around after all the dust settles.

I agree with rkkwan, rosy future? I don't believe so.


Reporting from Cairo

AAFF: I don't think those fares are that special, to be honest. These are the normal APEX biz fares when flying BA ex-Continental Europe. It is not uncommon to see fares in the $2200 range ex-Copenhagen. But, that you folks in the US are seeing them would likely just be a seasonal thing.

So, while they are decent fares, I'm not sure they are indicative of a wider trend. This is especially true during summer, where fares routinely drop well below $2000. Continental, for instance, often has fares during the summer and holiday period that can come in just below $1000, and last year NW/KLM had biz fares in the $1500 range, as well.

There has not been any &lt;$1,000 roundtrip Continental business class fare to Europe. Not recently, not before.

They did have summer sales for the last few years. But you're talking about about $2,000 roundtrip from the US, roundtrip.

&quot;There has not been any &lt;$1,000 roundtrip Continental business class fare to Europe. Not recently, not before.&quot;

Ahh... I must have been seeing one-way fares.