The fares compare with a special price of £2,500 return on Eos, and around £3,600 in British Airways' business class cabin and will be seen by many as a desperate move to kickstart the market.
Unsurprisingly, MAXjet cehief executive Gary Rogliano sees it differently. "“We lowered our fares even more because we think there is so much of an untapped market we’re dealing with here,” he said. “Business class travel should be affordable, and MAXjet’s fares will ensure that a substantially greater amount of people can now travel comfortably without paying a fortune.”
The airline will fly daily to New York, except Saturday. Eos was due to start service on the same day - but trumped MAXjet by bringing forward its departure date to today.
Eos Airlines’ first eastbound flight left JFK at 7.05pm last night and arrived in Stansted at 7.30am today. The first westbound flight left Stansted at 10.30am and arrived in JFK at 1.29pm. Eos is pitching its service at the upper end of the premium market. The service offers just 48 fully flat seats with 78-inch pitch, cashmere blankets, Tempur-Pedic® pillows, real china crockery, a personal DVD player and aisle access for all window seats.
MAXjet, meanwhile, has converted a Boeing 757 planes to carry 102 seats, with a 60-inch seat pitch, free drinks and food and portable entertainment consoles.
The battle to become the airline for business travellers has raged since Concorde stopped service, and heightened with security and immigration issues creating masses of red tape and queues for 747s carrying 400 passengers or more.
With the prospect of a third all-business airline starting service from Luton with the next few months, business travellers looking for a Concorde replacement can expect competitive fares in the first year or so.
Originally, the Washington DC-based carrier MAXjet said it would fly to JFK airport every day, except Saturdays, with fares from £599 each way, excluding taxes of around £80 return.
Eos say that its basic unrestricted round trip price will be £3,500 - with a special introductory price of £2,500 round trip. But the airline will point to its bigger space, fewer seats and claim that it is a more prestigious product than Maxjet.
MAXjet's chief executive Gary Rogliano also says he plans a second daily flight on the route and flights to other US cities from London in the future.
Tickets on MAXjet are nontransferable, but may be reissued for a £60 change fee plus any applicable difference in fare. Tickets are refundable for a £180 fee.
