Blue Fox Executive Airlines will launch all business-class flights, twice-daily to New York JFK from London Stansted in March 2002. This will be followed soon after by flights to Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco and Washington DC. Blue Fox says that the investment needed to start the venture looks set to exceed the initial £35 million estimate.

Grey Worldwide will be marketing the airline. Ceo Derek Jewson said: “The main interest is from fairly large corporates from both sides of the Atlantic, although we were surprised by the degree of interest from retired people and leisure passengers.” The fares will be around a third of the price of business jets with Blue Fox claiming to offer a similar personalised service.

By way of example, Gold Air International has quoted business jet return prices of £3,500 to east coast USA, and £5,375 to the west per person, while corresponding Blue Fox charges are £1,200 and £1,600. Jewson claims that apart from Concord, no other airline service is able to offer a specialised business class service for one fare.

Air Harrods will provide a helicopter link to Battersea for an extra £200 per person, although Jewson believes passengers are more likely to use the limousine and baggage collection/delivery services.\r

Stansted Airport, which is continuing to expand, was the only option available to Blue Fox, due to the closed skies agreement on new flights from Heathrow and Gatwick. Continental Airlines is the only other airline flying to the US from Stansted at present.

It recently started flying once a day to Newark, offering 16 business class seats out of a total of 172. Jewson is not concerned about the competition, claiming: “I don’t see the market being saturated, 15 years ago people said with the advent of technology, business travel would diminish. But this didn’t happen, it’s grown.” Blue Fox will have its own terminal and its own customs and immigrations area, which it says will allow fast check in capacity for its ‘guests’.

Jewson believes that the future success of Blue Fox lies in four key elements: “We use the Boeing 767, an excellent wide bodied jet. Continental offers a 757, which is too small. We fly twice a day, with a third jet standing by in case of any hiccups. The fare is particularly important, a major blue chip company will now be able to send three people for the price of one.

Most importantly though is the quality of service. The cabin crew must be charming, friendly and remember peoples’ names.”

Former chairman of the UK Conservative Party Lord Tebbit has joined the airline as a non executive chairman. Jewson said “We are absolutely delighted to have someone of Lord Tebbit’s distinction and calibre, he’ll give his wealth of experience, commercially and politically and some down right common sense.”

Former Lauda Air managing director Jewson said of his own participation in the airline: “Michael Lord-Castle (Blue Fox founder) approached me about four months ago, and asked me to look at his business plan. And it was the most comprehensive, well thought out business plan I’d seen.”

The rest of the management team will be announced in the near future.

The majority of employees will be local to Stansted. “We want people to feel they’re part of the company, in the most positive way,” commented Jewson on the airline’s policy of making all employees shareholders; “that way we have a high morale and everyone feels they are contributing to the success.”

As part of the red carpet treatment, Blue Fox passengers will be known as guests and will fly from a dedicated Blue Fox terminal aboard Boeing 767-300ER aircraft.

Each of the five twinjets that the airline plans to lease will be configured for 138 seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, thus eliminating the middle man.