Post by gavifs on Sept 19, 2005 17:15:11 GMT
New low-fares airline to take wing from Shannon
18 September 2005 By Ed Micheau
The Irish airline market is set to become more competitive with the establishment of a new low-fares airline in 2006, The Sunday Business Post has learned.
The unnamed airline is expected to operate cheap flights out of Belfast and Shannon to destinations in southern and eastern Europe, targeting both the holiday and immigrant markets. It may also operate routes out of Dublin, Cork and London.
The venture is the brainchild of David Keys, a low-profile Belfast-based entrepreneur in his mid-twenties. Keys, who is expected to be a majority shareholder in the business, is believed to have secured the financial backing of a wealthy Irish businessman.
An unnamed former director of Ryanair is believed to have accepted the post as chairman of the new airline, which will lease several Airbus aircraft to get the business off the ground.
Keys is believed to have extensive commercial property interests in Ireland and Europe. He is behind the successful Northern website commercialpropertyni.com
A new entrant to the Irish market is more good news for consumers after Ryanair last week confirmed that it had made Cork its 15th European base. The airline will operate three flights daily from Cork to Dublin and twice a day from Cork to London Gatwick.
Ryanair is planning to fly four million passengers in and out of Cork by 2010. It also announced a new route to Malaga from Shannon, where it now operates 17 routes.