There can be no more vivid reflection of the frustrations of frequent air travel than the recent emergence of business class only airlines. Where there were none on the London-New York route until 2005 there are now three: Eos and MAXjet, which fly between Stansted and JFK, and Silverjet, which flies between Newark and Luton Airport, which is located north of London.
Though the carrier’s fares and services differ in detail, they all use jets fitted with far fewer seats than the maximum for which the aircraft were designed. They all offer the standard business comforts such as lounges, and their common aim is to remove as much irritation as possible from business travel.
Eos operates only between JFK and Stantsed but will start a service to Newark - and between JFK and Paris - next year. It operates Boeing 757s with 48 seats - in normal airline service such jets would have over 200 seats. Eos customers have 21 sq ft of space each. Seats convert to 78in long flat beds, and allow customers to get together and work.
Passengers can eat before boarding or at any time during the flight. At either end of the route staff guide passengers through security and immigration. Though minimum check in is of 45 minutes before departure the airline tries to contact travellers who are late to make sure they en route - and staff are at the kerb to rush them through airport procedures.
One frequent flyer who has used Eos is Mark Woodhouse, a partner in the London based executive search and board review consultancy MWM He says: “Critically, they think about it from the business person’s standpoint. They don’t fuss over you but they seem to have a good appreciation of the requirements of business passengers over other travellers. Sometimes we want more service, sometimes less.
“On one of my flights with them two 747s has arrived just before us and to avoid the queues they took us through the immigration channel for Americans. The only thing that hasn’t been tested is if one of their aircraft goes wrong. The advantage of British Airways, for example, is that they have much more back up.”
MAXjet, which also flies from Stansted to Los Angeles and La Vegas, uses Boeing 767s with 102 seats - fewer than half the number in a typical scheduled airline layout. Its seats do not covert into fully flat beds but recline to 170 degrees. As this suggests, its fares are significantly lower than those of Eos.
Silverjet’s 767s are fitted with 100 seats, which recline to become flat beds. Its fares are also at the lower end of the business-only spectrum. It has its own terminal at Luton with refreshments, showers - available on departure or arrival - wi-fi and a a dedicated security channel, so passengers do not suffer long queues. The airline starts Stansted-Dubai flights on November 18.
The sudden appearance of the specialist business carriers prompted speculation that there might not be enough traffic to go around. Yet the fact that the carriers are increasing London-New York services suggests that, on that route at least, there is plenty of demand.
Eos has just upped its frequency to four round trips a day on two days of the week: Sunday and Thursday eastbound, Sunday and Friday westbound. MAXjet added a Saturday service on October 20 and will move from one to two round trips a day - on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays - on March 1 2008. Silverjet is scheduled to expand its service from one round trip a day to two from November 18.
Nevertheless, the question remains whether there will be enough demand for business seats if Virgin Atlantic goes ahead with its plan to launch business only services from London, or if there is a significant economic downturn.
Costs and choices
MAXjet and Eos aim to provide space and comfort for the cost-conscious traveller but they are somewhat different animals. EOS provides complimentary limousines to and from the airport, at least at the London end. Maxjet describes itself as a strictly “airport to airport” operator. However, its fares are significantly lower than those of its rival, starting at £854 return ($1,584 if bought in the US) on the New York route, for example, against published fares from Eos of around £1,700 ($3,150 from the US) for an advance purchase ticket or £3,200 ($6,850 if bought in the US) for an unrestricted fare.
Superficially, Eos’s fares are higher than many of those negotiated with mainstream carriers by major organisations or their appointed travel management companies in return for providing certain levels of business. But David Spurlock, the airline’s founder, says his carrier also offers such deals. “We have a 20 strong sales team, split between London and New York, who have signed well over 200 corporate deals with clients including seven of the top ten investment banks,” he says.
A Californian who studied biochemistry at Stanford, Mr Spurlock has a strong airline pedigree. He is a former director of strategy at British Airways who served two masters, Robert Ayling and later Rod – now Sir Rod – Eddington and worked on a major restructuring, which the airline termed “Future size and shape”.
Why did he decide to start Eos? It had become clear to him that the airline industry was operating in the way large swathes of the retail business used to, attempting, especially on international routes, to be “all things to all people airlines”.
“The business model was wrongly suited to serve the premium business class international traveller,” he says.
“By starting over and having the benefit of a clean sheet of paper we could design an airline which on every level – cost, the product offering including seats, and service – could be tailored much more closely to their needs. We asked: how do we best serve them and we designed our own aircraft interior and our own seats.”
The result was a cabin layout featuring “companion seats” with tables big enough to cope with two laptops, enabling up to four customers to get together and work.
