Odyssey Airlines (London City) has launched its latest financing initiative - a crowdfunding drive aimed at raising USD5million in initial capital. Founded by Adam Scott, a former Goldman Sachs banker, the airline intends to offer an all-Business Class product on flights between London City and New York JFK in 2016. Other European destinations are also being considered.

With ten A220-100s on order from Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau), Scott told the CityAM blog that funds raised from the current drive would supplement USD3.69million raised through the ThinCats peer-to-peer lending site last year.

“What’s really attractive about this business proposition is we have taken the optimal aircraft in an optimal configuration for these routes,” Scott told City A.M. “It’s almost the closest replacement to Concorde, a direct, non-stop transatlantic flight.”

In parallel to fellow transatlantic start-up, Dreamjet (Paris Le Bourget) which is run by Frantz Yvelin - former head of L'Avion (Paris Orly) - Odyssey counts some of the former founders of Silverjet (London Luton) as members of its management team.