Posted by Seth on March 12, 2010 under News | 
Sun Country Airlines, a small carrier based in Minneapolis that focuses mostly on leisure routes, has announced their intentions to start transatlantic service this summer, connecting New York City to London’s Stansted airport once weekly. The service will depart from New York on Friday evenings with return flights scheduled on Sunday mornings. The aircraft will remain at Stansted overnight on Saturday.
The Stansted airport is only marginally truly a London airport. It is about 45 minutes and £18 away from Liverpool Station by express train. Still, it opens a fourth airport offering service to New York City back up to London residents and it offers some convenience for residents in the northern suburbs.
The Stansted – New York route was served previously by Eos airline, an all-business class carrier, and American Airlines. American fought Eos aggressively on price, and the upstart carrier eventually was forced into bankruptcy and a cessation of operations. Shortly thereafter American suspended service on the route noting that it was not profitable. The Dallas-based carrier has not yet indicated whether they intend to restart operations on the route given the new competition but it seems unlikely.
The service is expected to be operated on the carrier’s 737-800 aircraft making Sun Country the only operator of coach or mixed configuration 737s crossing the Atlantic at this time. The necessary ETOPS certification was accomplished in late 2009 so there are no limitations to offering the service at this point. Pricing and final schedule details have not been released and initial inquiries to the Sun Country press office have not yet been returned.
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Posted by Seth on April 26, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Eos, the all premium carrier that many expected to actually survive, has declared bankruptcy and halted all service effective immediately. Their last flights will operate today, April 27, and even then only a limited service. The post on their website includes most of the details:
Our unique relationship makes it all the more difficult to share with you the news that Eos has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. On April 26, 2008, we plan to operate Flight 6 (8:30pm) from JFK to STN. On April 27, 2008, we plan to operate Flights 3 (1:00pm) and 7 (6:30pm) from STN to JFK. Flight 5 from STN to JFK and all flights from JFK to STN on April 27, 2008 are canceled. We will cease operations entirely after April 27, 2008.
This announcement is particularly regrettable since we have achieved so much, including having a term sheet in hand for additional financing. Clearly, even in today’s challenging economic and credit environment, investors believe in Eos. Unfortunately, some issues arose that prevented the parties from moving forward
It seems that the money that they were expecting didn’t come through for some reason, and that the carrier cannot continue operations at this point. This leaves SilverJet and L’Avion as the last two players in the all premium TATL market. SilverJet also has their London – Dubai route, and L’Avion flies from Paris instead of London, but that doesn’t guarantee too much these days.
Oh, and if you are a member of their frequent flier program or an AmEx Platinum or Centurion cardholder looking to redeem a reward ticket on Eos, that ain’t happening either. Bummer.
Posted by Seth on February 20, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Despite the recent negative press on the all premium carriers and where that segment of the industy might end up, the apparent leader, Eos, isn’t slowing down at all. They’ve announced increases in service, adding Newark and Dubai as destinations, starting in early May andearly July, respectively.
In the meantime, British Airways is making the transatlantic experiencec even more intimate, planning service between London and New York with a Airbus 318 plane configured to hold 32 passengers. The flights will be from London City Airport, which is arguably the most convenient option for the financial industry. It will require a stop, however, on the westbound flight, as the plane will not be able to hold enough fuel to make the trip non-stop and also take off from the airport’s rather short runway. That would be enough to turn me off from it, but BA has high hopes.
Posted by Seth on January 22, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Following the demise of MAXJet back at Christmas, there was a bit of conjecture about how the reduction of capacity in the market would actually be good for the other airlines in the space (SilverJet, EOS and L’Avion are the big three right now). Despite pundits claiming for months that these upstarts were going to take a bite out of the legacies (mostly American Airlines and British Airways, and Air France to a lesser extent), the legacies are still flying just fine on the routes, and British Airways has announced what seems to be a reasonable approach to the competition, OpenSkies, which will be mostly premium seats with a few coach seats, just in case. So the legacies are keeping their share of the market and responding appropriately, but the upstarts are still ok. Or are they.
Jarad Blank seems to think the answer is no, and he’s got some pretty impressive numbers to back up his reasoning. Basically, EOS has a burn rate of ~$50MM annually and they are likely going to struggle to decrease that number before they run out of money in their current funding cycle. They may find another cash infusion, but it doesn’t look promising.
It will be sad to see the premium carriers fall. That being said, I’m not likely to ever pay that much for a plane ticket, so I’d just be holding out for reward travel to show up, just like I was saving for a trip on the Concorde years ago. So I guess my vote doesn’t really count.
