What's New
from May/June 2007
Four start-up airlines are in hot pursuit of the transatlantic traveler. Three of them—MAXjet Airways, based in Dulles, Virginia; Silverjet in London; and L’Avion in Paris—hope to snare passengers by offering bargain business-class fares: $1,952 for a three-day, midweek round trip from Newark, New Jersey, to the U.K. on Silverjet, for example, versus the more than $7,000 Continental Airlines was recently charging for a round trip from New York City’s JFK airport on the same dates. The fourth, Eos Airlines Inc., headquartered in Purchase, New York, is focused on providing a premium product and still coming in at a discount. Its Boeing 757s, built for 220 passengers, have been re-outfitted to carry only 48. The price of a JFK-London round trip: $3,280 if you book 42 days in advance, $6,980 if you leave it till later. Early reviews have generally been favorable.The big drawback for all four newcomers is that passengers must be willing to fly into and out of secondary European airports. U.K. passengers, for example, land in Stansted (if you’re flying MAXJet or Eos) or Luton (Silverjet). Both are much less accessible to central London than Heathrow or Gatwick.
