THIS may be a tale of two cities — but it’s a case of the best of times being followed by even better times. I’m at Stansted, lounging on a comfortable sofa, nibbling smoked salmon canapés, flicking through Vanity Fair, and drinking crisp, chilled Lanson Black Label brut champagne.

It’s 9.30am on a Wednesday, perhaps a little early to be starting on the free fizzy stuff? Doug, the Times photographer, thinks not: “It’s gotta be 6pm somewhere in the world.” Welcome to the new world of Britain’s first business-class-only transatlantic flights.

We’re testing eos, which has return seats starting at £2,500, and MAXjet, at £854. Both have started flights from London Stansted to New York JFK, hoping to put a dent in the business-fare sales of established transatlantic airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic in the same way Ryanair and easyJet have hit them at the economy end of the market.

On paper they look good. Eos’s flat-bed seats have a 78in pitch and are about £1,300 less than BA’s Club World offering at 73in. MAXjet’s seats are 60in, compared with BA’s Premier Economy’s 38in, and about £500 less. But are they really going to “do a Stelios” to the business traveller market?

There was only one way to find out. Champagne glasses drained in the lounge, we head to our Boeing 757, 48 seats where normal flight configurations have 200, and lay eyes on the cabins. Our seats are the size of small Japanese hotel rooms, long enough when fully extended for a 6ft 6incher to stretch out (and I’m just 5ft 8in). Gentle classical music is playing in the background.

Charming Valeria — it says so on the label of her Armani-style all-black outfit (all very NYC hip-hotel, with a neat string of pearls completing her look) — brings champagne bellini cocktails, and hands me some by-the-pool-in-the-Hamptons white slippers, along with a vanity case containing L’Occitane en Provence lip balm and moisturiser, Evian vaporiser, ear-plugs, toothbrush and eye mask.

We’re soon up, purring 30,000ft over the Irish Sea. Farrah, another smiler, brings me a Personal Entertainment Appliance, a slick little laptop television with Bose noise- cancelling headphones.

And then comes lunch. Parma ham, mozzarella and roasted sweet peppers, followed by fillet of salmon and sole, and a chocolate soufflé, the latter deemed “damn good” by Doug. David Spurlock, a former British Airways senior executive and founder of eos, is a few rows back. I join him, sitting on the horseshoe-shaped chair that faces each seat (part of the flat bed when the seat is raised). The purpose of this arrangement is, he says, so that colleagues can talk face to face, or pull out the 3ft by 2ft table to share a meal.

“We’ve got 21 sq ft per seat, BA has just 15 on Club World,” says Spurlock, going for the jugular; before sketching a Virgin Atlantic seat on my notepad and explaining how his are “much better”. Whatever. It’s certainly comfortable enough as I lie back; more space than I can remember on BA’s Club World. I’m asleep in moments, tucked into my cashmere blanket.

Another day, another swanky flight. MAXjet is a different proposition. Its owners are taking on traditional airlines’ premium economy sections, not the top business seats. It has 100 comfortable blue leather seats on its Boeing 767. And it beats eos hands down for value; if not for ridiculous luxury. The MAXjet lounge is better than eos’s though — bigger, with sweeping views of all those horrible easyJets and Ryanairs.

Champagne in the lounge is followed by more of the same on board, plus tasty crayfish hors d’oeuvres. Dara, our flight attendant — from East Brunswick, New Jersey, her badge says — takes our glasses and brings entertainment units; no posh Bose headphones though, and the screen’s smaller than eos’s.

Tom Otley, editor of Business Traveller magazine, is sitting next to me. He likes the MAXjet concept, but is upset about one thing: there’s no socket to recharge the battery on his laptop, which means he can’t work more than three hours. “I’m sorry. They’re coming in soon,” says the apologetic purser. But we agree that the menu is clearer than eos’s, which was on a cheap piece of card. And so is the view, which means we get to see the icy wastes of Greenland.

For lunch it’s sun-dried tomato and roasted artichoke salad, chilli-spiced prawns and sesame noodles, and a good marmalade bread and butter pudding. Dara brings more champagne — she seems to have a sixth sense (or maybe she’s simply worked us out).

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