Many of you have heard about Maxjet, the international business-class-only low cost carrier flying among New York, London, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It’s an interesting idea — offer fewer seats in a business class environment and charge only slightly more than a traditional economy seat — and I’d like to try it some time.
And most people truly are mildly interested by the notion — especially when they see the nifty cabin tour — it’s just that few people are willing to try it. Combined with the discomfort of trying a new product, many business travelers are pulled away by frequent flyer programs and the inaccessibility to London proper (Maxjet flies into Stansted). Leisure travelers, on the other hand, either don’t know about Maxjet (because their fares aren’t loaded into canonical search engines like Orbitz and Expedia) or are too cheap to pay for business class seats.
Perhaps for these reasons combined with the market and oil squeeze, Maxjet is starting to feel the heat. In October they suddenly suspended flights into Washington and as of last week they suspended trading of their stock on the London Stock Exchange.
While their corporate sources claim business as usual and their schedule remains open, one can only speculate that the airline is having issues. Keep your glock unclipped.