Silverjet suspends all flights as funding fails to emerge

Loss-making airline Silverjet has ceased flying today after it revealed that it no longer has the funding to operate.

Last Friday, the airline asked the London Stock Exchange to suspend its shares after it announced that it had secured a $25 million (£12.7 million) investment to continue to trade but the company admitted that the funding had not yet emerged.

Today, it suspended all flights and said the last flight took off at 7.30 this morning from Luton on its way to Dubai.

Silverjet said other airlines were not obliged to honour unused tickets and is advising passengers return flights to make their own arrangements. The airline said customers who have booked flights via credit card should be able to receive money back from their credit card company or from their travel agent. However, others are unlikely to get their money back, it said.

As fuel prices soar, Silverjet is not the first airline to cease trading. Oasis Hong Kong Airlines recently announced it was to stop flying and applied for a voluntary liquidator.

US carriers including ATA Airlines, Aloha Airgroup and Skybus Airlines all ceased trading in March and EOS and Maxjet recently announced that they would cease flying.

Last night, Silverjet said that its would-be Abu Dhabi investor had still failed to provide it with the $5 million cash loan it had promised under a rescue deal and that it was left talking to just one potential rescue investor.

In a statement this morning, Silverjet said it continues to be in discussions with investors interested in supporting the business, however, it has yet to conclude such discussions to its satisfaction.

The airline, which claimed to be the world’s first carbon neutral airline, commenced trading in January 2007 and operates three aircraft. The company has a workforce of around 330 people in Luton.

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