There is to be no silver lining for Silverjet, it seems. Administrator Begbies Traynor today pronounced a life-saving acquisition dead.
Airline founder Lawrence Hunt has defied the odds before, but the failed rescue looks like it was the last rabbit out of the hat.
Commiserations to Silverjet's 420 staff - here's hoping they rapidly find work and do not have to wait behind a list of creditors for any unpaid wages - and to Lawrence, who gave his utmost and handled himself with dignity, charm and humour.
Begbies will now look to get the most it can for Silverjet's assets. Shareholders have already been told to expect nothing.
The consolation, if there is any in such circumstances, is that Silverjet came down through no fault of its own. Start-up airlines require a lot of cash and patient investors at the best of times. For airlines, these are the worst of times. Silverjet will not be the last victim. There are bigger failures on the way.
Comments (3)
The plight of Silverjet as a business class airline is really unfortunate. It was such a brilliant idea that kept me musing about their impending success and the "orange" future it holds. How wrong I was.
The soaring oil prices have not only ended a dream airline, but shut down the opportunity of celebrating another British airline success. Anyone who was aware of how either Virgin Airline or EasyJet started a couple of years ago would understand the point I am trying to make. Starting with an idea in the size of an acorn and growing it to a monolithic size; such is the story of Virgin and Silverjet was just in the same mould.
With oil prices behaving like the tsunami, I agree with Ian that Silverjet is not going to be the last victim. However, business class travellers still have choices in the more traditional arena and they are, due to sheer size, going to be able to weather the "oil" crunch.
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