What's up with Eos, Maxjet etc.?

[Nonstop2AUH]

There hasn't been too much news out lately on Eos and Maxjet and as they approach what iirc is their first birthdays this fall, I wonder if anyone here can enlighten us as to how they are really doing.

I followed their stories closely when they started up last year but have sort of lost track, although I read the websites and the slick releases from their PR firms which of course are not exactly impartial. What I am asking is: Has the service and the demand for it lived up to expectations? Are they making money and if not, are they on track to become profitable at some point soon? Is one doing any better (or worse) than the other? Are there still plans to expand beyond the current Stansted services? That sort of thing...

Personally, I would like to see them both do well, as it would mean more aviation jobs in the US and hopefully in the NYC area in particular, but there have been alot of doubters of the concept from Day 1 including the famous Mike Boyd so comments please!

[T-Bird76]

There's been a lot of news about MaxJet, well atleast from their perspective. MaxJet is starting Las Vegas the last week of October. As for EOS, I guess its status quo right now.

PS Mike Boyd is generally dead on. However MaxJet seems to be expanding slowly or not even like EOS. They may be content with their performance right now. Time will tell.

[hiss srq]

I think Maxjet is taking it slow but they are going to be something of a successful international version of Legend in my opinion. I see them doing well as long as they keep the PR under control I heard a bad story on a net about them and some pr stuff today

[G-BOAD]

in my personal opinion if i was giving a free trip to London i would chose EOS. i think they are much better, for business or not. i would love to have my own little space on the plane.

[hiss srq]

Arent there enough airlines busy keeping the LON-NYC market saturated I just found ANOTHER forum on Silverjet out of EWR with 762's starting up shortly now goodness. And than my money is on that new 747 carrier Blujet or whatever it is going on this market too even though nothing is known about them yet. If they could make money fine but I doubt it.

[Nonstop2AUH]

The impression I had gotten was that Maxjet had the more compelling value proposition, capturing individual travelers willing to pay "premium economy" sort of prices for "old style" business class service, and that Eos had some success with corporate contracts and charters.

BUT...I've heard the same thing that hiss mentioned about the very negative Maxjet article in a fairly reputable business travel magazine, and I am also sort of puzzled by the many changes in the management roster at Eos that has resulted in 6 senior exec names being left on the website down from I think about 10 a few months ago. To my way of thinking, more experienced execs is a good thing to see at a startup airline!

Last winter I interviewed there (at their invitation) and both the senior marketing guy and senior sales guy I met with are out, although in one case I would say good riddance because the guy came from consumer products and knew little about the premium airline niche, I had to tell him what Etihad was and they have won WTA New Airline of the Year each year since 2004! Anyone who has done even cursory research on premium airline services should know this, also he didn't know about the Eurofly MiMa service which I had read about on a.net, these things aren't exactly "Secret Squirrel" sort of private information. As for the other guy I met with, he seemed to have done his homework but again wasn't from an airline or travel background and told me enthusiastically of the big plans they had for new routes and different aircraft types-- which have not of course (as of yet) played out.

All of the above said, I wish them both well for reasons I mentioned at the beginning, they are creating jobs and hopefully keeping some $$ in the US that would otherwise go to BA, Sir Self-Promotion or Singapore (lol). Also, I like to see people trying new service-based concepts in the airline business (i.e. aside from the typical LCC model) ...

[G-BOAD]

Arent there enough airlines busy keeping the LON-NYC market saturated I just found ANOTHER forum on Silverjet out of EWR with 762's starting up shortly now goodness. And than my money is on that new 747 carrier Blujet or whatever it is going on this market too even though nothing is known about them yet. If they could make money fine but I doubt it.

blu jet. have you ever hear of a bigger violation of copyright, trademark, etc.?!?!

[hiss srq]

blue sky is what i ment i went and looked again but yeah those guys

[Nonstop2AUH]

Not much info out on Blue Sky but I thought (from a.net) it was meant to be affiliated with a French tour operator, which would probably make it more something like the original Maxjet concept (i.e. longhaul lowfare operation) and not an all-business class...

[maem01]

Arent there enough airlines busy keeping the LON-NYC market saturated I just found ANOTHER forum on Silverjet out of EWR with 762's starting up shortly now goodness. And than my money is on that new 747 carrier Blujet or whatever it is going on this market too even though nothing is known about them yet. If they could make money fine but I doubt it.

blu jet. have you ever hear of a bigger violation of copyright, trademark, etc.?!?!

The difference with Silverjet is that they will fly into Luton Airport, well north of London, good train connections but its like saying your flying into SWF for NYC !!!

[Nonstop2AUH]

I think part of what's up with Stansted and Luton is that they offer alot of lowfare connecting service to all over Europe with Easyjet, Ryanair and such they are relatively low-stress compared to LHR etc. Maxjet is even providing connecting flight information on its homepage and a "step-by-step" STN connection guide with map. This to me is further evidence of the trend that business travelers will pay up for premium longhaul service but for shorter flights, they will seek out the best priced option as the service is largely commoditized.