Home > News > Business Airline Gets Backing 11321

Business airline gets backing

Silverjet hopes to offer new flights

Business class only airline Silverjet has entered into a memorandum of understanding with an investor based in the UAE which it hopes will secure its future.

Following the demise this week of rival business class airline Eos, Silverjet will be hoping the memorandum of understanding (MOU) comes to fruition and it receives the expected $25 million from the investor.

Silverjet has admitted its “working capital has deteriorated and its residual reserves are limited” so it will need the extra funding to keep going.

“Completion of these agreements will secure the future of Silverjet and its long term development. In the unlikely event that these agreements are not completed, Silverjet will have to source alternative means of funding as a matter of urgency,” the airline says in its press statement.

According to the MOU, the unnamed investor also intends to invest a further $75 million “in the ongoing development of Silverjet and to participate in the international rollout of the Silverjet brand and concept into new markets within the Middle East, the Far East and Africa”. Silverjet currently offers flights from Luton airport to New York and Dubai.

Silverjet chief executive, Lawrence Hunt, comments: "This investment places Silverjet in a strong position to further develop our brand and proposition. It is particularly encouraging to have secured this agreement in a challenging environment for all airlines. The support of this investor demonstrates the strength of Silverjet's exclusively business class model”.

"The Board believes that the combination of Silverjet's already strong brand and presence in the market with the support of a long term strategic investor will enable Silverjet to continue its growth and success achieved to date,” Hunt adds.

Written by: Nick Purdom