Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Will it be grounded or take off to even greater heights? MAXjet is confident of a soft financial landing.

 But with fierce competition in the market and inflated fuel prices, is the trouble set to become business-class as usual?

The US-based but UK-listed airline issued a statement that it had temporarily suspended its share trading on AIM owing to financial fears, appearing to have run low on liquidity after posting losses of almost £16m for the six months to June.

The luxury carrier has suspended the trading of its shares – which have lost a quarter of their value over the last two weeks – seemingly short of cash from fighting a ferocious battle with rivals in the current harsh credit environment.

Having lacked a transatlantic carrier for around five years, Stansted Airport now has three in the form of MAXjet, Eos and American Airlines.

The local marketplace is crowded still further by the presence of Silverjet, a few miles down the road at Luton Airport.

Though MAXjet has issued a statement reassuring its customers that it will continue all of its scheduled flights as usual, competitor Silverjet, which has taken on more cash this year in order to stem inflated losses in a harsh market, has stepped in to offer concerned passengers replacement flights for the same price as MAXjet.

The suspension comes just after MAXjet posted some of its best figures to date, with passenger traffic up 47 per cent year-on-year, and a 123 per cent increase in the year to October.

Stansted insiders have told Business Weekly that the airline’s recent load factors have been “incredible.”

To maintain these growing numbers, the airline needs to create a rescue package in a very short time, to avoid losing customer confidence, thereby cutting off the cashflow lifeline provided by ticket sales, and creating credit problems with fuel suppliers and airports.

“We thank our customers for their loyalty. Our advance bookings remain strong and our flight  performance has been stellar,” said CEO, Bill Stockbridge.

“MAXjet customers know great value when they see it and our business class offers a unique combination of comfort and price.

“We look forward to serving our customers  during the busy Christmas season, in 2008 and beyond.”

Shares in the airline stand at 75p following the suspension, suffering a drop of 25 per cent, or 25p over the preceding two weeks.