All business airline Silverjet, which was grounded on 30 May, may take to the skies again after a group of private investors made an offer to the airline’s administrators, Begbies Traynor. The offer comes from Irish firm Kingplace, which is managed by Geneva-based investment and trust company Heritage Cie SA.

Ian Ilsley, chairman of Heritage and a director of Kingplace, said: "Kingplace can confirm that it has made an offer to Begbies Traynor and Lawrence Hunt, CEO Silverjet, with a view to purchasing Silverjet. We are excited at the prospect of acquiring Silverjet and resuming operations as quickly as possible with the existing staff and in particular, Silverjet’s highly regarded crews. We will be investing in the future development and success of the brand. We will make a further announcement in due course".

Lawrence Hunt, Silverjet’s chief executive, said: “I am delighted to confirm that Kingplace is in conversation with Begbies Traynor about Silverjet resuming operations in the near future. As CEO of Silverjet my aim is to see Silverjet up and flying as quickly as possible...We hope to make an announcement in the near future about when we will be able to resume operations.”

Silverjet was forced to cease operations at the end of May after it failed to receive an agreed $5m loan from Viceroy Holdings, a United Arab Emirates and US-based company with a track record of investing in luxury brands. Silverjet’s problems have been caused by the rapid rise in the price of aviation fuel coupled with demands from some suppliers for the airline to pay for fuel and other services upfront.

The problem for the airline will be to convince inidividual and coroprtae customers that it will survive over the long-term.

Norman Gage, dircetor of business travel at travel agency consortium Advantage, told Times Online. "I don’t think that any one has pulled off such a resurrection since Lazarus. Silverjet had an excellent product and they delivered on the promise. We would welcome working with them as a team again once they had demonstrated that they can go the distance."