Silverjet plans £26m share issue

Silverjet started its flights in January

Business class airline Silverjet aims to raise £26m through the sale of extra shares in the company.

The firm, which flies from London Luton to Newark in the US, said it would sell the shares for 180p each, a discount of 3.5% on its Monday closing price.

It intends to use the extra money for general working capital purposes.

Silverjet, which started services in January, also disclosed that it sold 59% of available seats in March, "significantly ahead of expectations".

It added that its overall performance was also beating market targets, and that 81% of its flights both took off and arrived within 15 minutes of schedule.

Silverjet also announced that from July this year it would run a second daily business class-only service to Newark, which is one of the three main airports serving New York city.

"The fundraising is a significant step forward for Silverjet," said chief executive Lawrence Hunt.