Taylor-made Fly First prepares for luxury take-off

A LUXURY business class-only service to New York, using customised Boeing jetliners fitted with 48 beds, is being launched later this year in an attempt to appeal to devotees mourning the loss of Concorde.

Fly First is close to the end of a £25 million fund-raising with broker Brewin Dolphin that will enable it to lease two Boeing 757s, fit them out with four cabins of 12 seats, get Civil Aviation Authority permits and ready itself for take-off in November.

It is being led by Hamish Taylor, 44, who has been chief executive of Sainsbury's Bank and Eurostar and head of brand management at British Airways.

Fly First will operate daily from the private jet terminal at Luton airport, enabling a fast check-in and flights that leave at 6.45am. A 9am arrival at New York's Newark airport would beat BA's first service to the city by two hours.

'We believe we can offer a better journey experience but at normal business class prices - between £3400 and £4100. As the first European arrival in New York every day, it will be a service that has not been available since the demise of Concorde,' said Taylor.

Fly First is just the latest attempt to launch an independent transatlantic airline. Blue Fox, a would-be airline chaired by former Tory minister Norman Tebbit, was grounded after 9/11. Another putative service, Sky-Bus, was scuppered after the Evening Standard unmasked its operator as a convicted child pornographer.

Joy for Jetstar over first-year success

LOW-COST airline Jetstar, the discount arm of Australia's Qantas, celebrated its first birthday today by cheering its success at the expense of rival Virgin Blue. Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said its rival was struggling to hold on to its declining market share. Jetstar's success was the catalyst for Sir Richard Branson losing control of the Virgin Blue carrier he founded in Australia.