City sources say the carrier has consulted brokers about a range of options including a stock market listing.

Brokers Collins Stewart and Panmure Gordon are understood to have been asked by the management to explore the possibility of a flotation with a starting price of around £85m.

Last night the Boyles declined to comment, but a spokesman said they were looking at all strategic options. Hugh Boyle is the largest shareholder in Zoom, which is based in Ottawa, Canada, where he lives.

The company is likely to wait for short-term market turbulence to subside before making a move, and will have to convince investors that the high cost of fuel will not cause it problems.

The potential listing would follow a slew of airline flotations. Earlier this year Maxjet, one of three airlines that now shuttles well-heeled passengers across the Atlantic, announced it will float on the Alternative Investment Market.

Zoom recently revealed an expansion of its summer flights schedule with 40% more seats across the Atlantic than it offered last year, including more flights from Glasgow and Gatwick to Canada.

Zoom, set up by the Boyles in 2002 after the sale of their firm Direct Holidays to Airtours for £84m, has found a niche among the crowded Atlantic routes. Initially it offered low-cost flights from the UK to Canada.

Last year the duo struck a £5.7m deal with Bank of Scotland Growth Equity to open up longer-haul routes from London to the US, Mexico and Bermuda. The move gives them a head-start on other airlines before the transatlantic open-skies agreement comes into force next year.

Earlier this year Zoom entered an alliance with FlyGlobespan, Scotland's other international airline, which will allow them to step up the fares war with big airlines flying between the UK and Canada. Under the agreement, the two airlines will sell seats on each other's transatlantic services.

In June, John Boyle sold his luxury holiday business CV Travel to the travel giant Kuoni for an estimated £10m to focus on Zoom.

The former chairman of Motherwell FC, he now runs a business empire stretching from tiny technology firms to commercial property.