Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The announcement of a new Saturday service to JFK some four days after its debut failed to elicit much response from the market.

The company said the route was in response to “customer demand and strong forward bookings.”

MAXjet’s passenger statistics for May 2007 showed a load factor of 76.9 per cent, representing an increase of 1.5 percentage points over the previous month.

The load factor for its New York routes was ahead of the forecasts of 74.3 it made in its admission documents.

The carrier also announced record system-wide bookings for June, July and August, with advance bookings for its new LA route continuing to be ahead of expectations.

Bill Stockbridge, CEO, MAXjet Airways said: “MAXjet pioneered low-cost, all-business class travel between the UK and US having identified exciting growth opportunities within this segment.

“The start-up phase is complete and, with this successful fundraising, we can invest in the next stage of our development.

“The strong load factor for May underlines the strength of demand from passengers who want to travel on our established, low-fare all-business class airline between London and cities across the US.”

A total of 36.6 million common shares were placed with investors, giving a market cap of £96.1m on admission.

In addition to executing its expansion strategy, the company said it would also use the proceeds raised from the placing to repay pre-IPO bridge loans.

Maxjet made a loss of about £40m in 2006, on revenues of around £20m.