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All 300 Silverjet employees have been laid off after a rescue deal for the airline collapsed.

Administrator Begbies Traynor said an agreement with Kingplace to acquire and relaunch Silverjet had proved impossible to reach, and the company's assets will now be sold off.

Mark Fry, senior partner from Begbies Traynor and joint administrator for Silverjet, said: "We now understand that, as a result of the unusually complex negotiations with third parties, Kingplace is no longer in a position to acquire Silverjet as a going concern.

As a consequence, we have today had to make the entire workforce formally redundant, in line with our legal obligations as administrator.

"We are extremely disappointed to have had to make these redundancies, which we had been working hard to prevent. We continue to negotiate the sale of Silverjet's assets for the benefit of the company’s creditors and will provide an update as soon as we are able."

Business-only airline Silverjet launched in 2004 and began trading on the Alternative Investments Market (AIM) in 2006.

But falling passenger numbers and increasing fuel costs meant the airline struggled under huge debts, eventually suspending its shares on the exchange at the end of May this year when a rescue loan fell through.

After going into administration, Silverjet received an offer to buy the business from Ireland-based investment group Kingplace earlier this week.

Now the deal has fallen through, Silverjet will go into liquidation.

Its creditors include David and Simon Reuben, the property billionaires, who invested £10 million in Silverjet last year.