Jetmagic ‘happy’ with its business formula

“ANY fool can grow in the airline industry while losing money and we are surrounded by many fine examples of this in Europe at present.”

No prizes for guessing the genesis of these caustic remarks, because it was none other than the irrepressible Michael O'Leary, whose stake in Ryanair is currently worth nearly €300 million. His personal fortune is estimated at €500m, the bulk of which was generated by his near fanatical commitment to the airline he dubbed "the low fares no frills carrier".

Hard to keep out of the news he was married at the weekend the no-nonsense Corkman is not, even he probably realises, the only player in the Irish airline industry.

Recently Aer Arann has carved out a niche and stepped into the breach when Aer Lingus abandoned the critically important Cork-Dublin route.

In the news again, however, is Patrick Raftery, founder of Jetmagic earlier in the year that has announced further extension of his airline's services out of Cork in months ahead.

"Too far too fast" we suggested to Raftery after yesterday's announcement.

We were not the first to make that suggestion, he said. He countered by pointing to "market research" that has shown the demand by Cork and Munster people for services out of Cork Airport serving Britain and mainland Europe was huge. "The people of Cork and Munster do not want to have to go to Dublin to access the UK and Europe and that's a marketing fact."

Jetmagic has been operational out of Cork since April when it began operating services from Cork to Brussels, Belfast, London City, Nice and Barcelona. The fare structure is similar for all routes, tickets costing from €75 up, one way.

Jetmagic surprised the airline sector yesterday by announcing further extension of its services out of Cork involving three new routes.

The announcement sees new direct services from Cork into Edinburgh, Liverpool and London City.

Services from Cork on the Edinburgh and Liverpool routes will operate twice daily Monday to Friday. Services from Cork to London City will operate three times daily Monday to Friday.

All three routes feature a morning flight in both directions as well as an evening return, allowing business customers to complete a full day's work and to return the same evening. Each new route will also have one flight on Saturday and Sunday.

All other routes continue to operate as usual with details on schedules for all routes available from www.jetmagic.com.

Raftery said "We are delighted to be adding these important new routes to our service out of Cork. Our pre-service launch statistics indicate an enormous level of interest on all three routes."

The airline employs 103 personnel and plans to recruit more staff in the near future. "The reaction from our Cork and Munster customers continues to be extremely gratifying and we will continue to strive to provide 'the difference' in terms of levels of quality and service on the ground and in the air," he said.

At this stage "Cork's own airline" (as it is becoming known) is carrying 7,500 passengers monthly and Raftery is comfortable with that. While the majority of airlines in Europe are losing money, Raftery, who has worked with British Airways and with other airlines across the world, is confident the group developed a successful business formula.

"We have a tight cost base, realistic ambitions and enough marketing and other data to justify the €5 million invested in the business," he said.