Start-up airline stresses service

Philadelphia Inquirer, The, April, 2007 by Tom Belden Inquirer Staff Writer

NEWARK - Silverjet, a three-month-old airline with one airplane, is creating pleasant dreams where Scottish businessman Raymond Eagleson once only had nightmares.

Silverjet is the newest of three recent entries into the highly competitive market for business-class travel between New York and London, and the one most convenient for passengers from the Philadelphia region because it uses Newark Liberty International Airport. The other new business-class carriers, Eos Airlines and Maxjet, fly from Kennedy International Airport. A fourth recent all-business-class start-up, L'avion, flies between Newark and Paris.

Eagleson, director of a textile design and manufacturing firm in Langholm, Scotland, made his first trip on Silverjet, from Luton Airport near London to Newark, last week and was waiting to board his return flight last Friday afternoon. Not only was Silverjet's fare less than one-third of what major airlines charge for business class, he said, ...