Silverjet sacks all 420 staff

Failed business airline Silverjet has formally made all 300 staff redundant today. The move follows a breakdown in negotiations with investment company Kingsplace to acquire the airline.

The news closely follows a management restructure which saw the departure of Katherine Gershon, the carrier’s sales and marketing director and an executive board member, late last month. Its former head of online global marketing Tamarah Khatib was appointed head of global marketing.

Silverjet ceased operations last month after being hit by rising oil prices. Talks broke down with Kingsplace, even though earlier this week the investment company said that it was confident Silverjet would be up and running again in a matter of weeks. But the airline’s administrators said difficult negotiations with third parties prevented the acquisition from going through.

Just over a month ago, Silverjet declared that it remained bullish about its future, despite the collapse of premium carrier Eos in April (MW May 1). Administrators say they will continue to negotiate the sale of the company’s assets.