Ireland Inc should learn from low-cost carriers

A couple of weeks ago a passenger was getting off an Airbus A320 in Medellin, Colombia, one of Latin America’s fastest growing economies.

As he went through the arrivals hall he heard someone opine “that is the airline used by the poor”. He told the stranger: “No, it is the airline used by the wise.”

I heard this story from the chief executive of Viva Colombia, a start-up low-cost airline launched last May. You might wonder why it is worthy of comment in this Munster newspaper but Viva Colombia has its roots in Ireland, and is the latest example of a low-cost revolution sweeping across global air travel.