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A few years ago, Warren Buffett assessed the airline business this way:

…if a capitalist had been present at Kittyhawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright. He would have saved his progeny money. But seriously, the airline business has been extraordinary. It has eaten up capital over the past century like almost no other business because people seem to keep coming back to it and putting fresh money in.

Sure enough, fresh money is coming into the business.

Silverjet, the latest entrant (alongside Maxjet and Eos) in the London-New York all-business-class space, successfully raised £25 million (approx. US$46.6 million) in an IPO. 75% of shares went to institutional investors, with management retaining 19%. While funding does not guarantee that the airline will actually fly, it’s certainly far more likely.

The company’s goal? To “offer passengers ‘the same level of service as EOS but at the same price as Maxjet.’” Flying from the London-area Luton airport, served primarily by discount airlines, Silverjet promises speedy check-in, as late as 30 minutes before departure.

Unlike Maxjet and Eos, Silverjet states that it plans to expand outside the transatlantic space:

The airline has already identified 30 routes that would suit the airline’s business model and started the licensing process for three long-haul routes outside North America.

We’ll be watching. But, perhaps like Warren Buffett, we won’t be buying the stock.