All-frills airline Eos enjoys 'explosive growth'

A new "all-frills" airline aimed at transatlantic business travellers has claimed it broke even last month by selling six out of every 10 of its oversized seats.

Eos, named after the Greek goddess of the dawn, yesterday said it was covering all the costs of running its business apart from its corporate overheads less than eight months after launching.

The new US airline, which is headed by the former British Airways executive David Spurlock, flies between New York and London.

It has just one flight per day, which costs corporate travellers £2,500 to cross the Atlantic.

Mr Spurlock said Eos had load factors of 60 per cent in May, but that the figure had risen to 75 per cent at the start of June.

He predicted June would be "materially better" than May, adding: "We are still seeing an explosion of growth within the business."He said that a load factor of 60 per cent was "getting to be a very good performance for a premium airline".

He added: "Today through next week we're booked at 75 per cent, and roughly 25 per cent of our seats are sold in the last week."

The airline was started with US$87m of cash raised privately from a number of investors, including Maveron, the venture fund founded by the Starbucks chairman, Howard Schultz.

It is planning to start a second daily flight between New York's JFK and London this September.

MAXjet, a rival, started its own business-class service last November, and a third airline, the Aim-listed Silverjet, is planning its own launch for the autumn.

- INDEPENDENT