New all business class airline seeks second funding round

Odyssey has won the backing of veteran private equity pioneer Jon Moulton, one of the investors that helped it towards a first round of funding of more than £5 million, raised via online crowdsourcing.

The start-up carrier is launching a second £5 million round this week and expects to approach institutions next year for a further £60 million, the Financial Times reported.

Adam Scott, a former Goldman Sachs banker and Odyssey’s chief executive, said technological change would prevent his venture suffering the fate of previous business-only airlines such as Silverjet, Maxjet and Eos.

Ten Bombardier CSeries aircraft, with a capability of flying non-stop from London City Airport to New York, have been acquired.

The aircraft will offer 40 lie-flat seats and will fly from London to destinations in North America, Europe and the Middle East within eight hours’ duration. The first transatlantic flights are scheduled for mid-2016.

“We are not going to be a discount airline,” Scott said, adding that previous ventures were hamstrung by flying out of Luton and Stansted, their high overheads, and their pre-financial crisis timing.

“This is more about the traveller’s experience and getting rid of the aggravation of having to go through big airports,” he said.