Jet Magic airways gone bust
 

Just heard Jet Magic in Cork have gone bust according to TV3 News

You got there just before me....

Here is the statement from their website

Quote
JETMAGIC SUSPENDS

OPERATIONS



Cork based regional airline, Jetmagic, announced the suspension of its operations with immediate effect this evening (Wednesday, January 28, 2004). On the recommendation of the Board of Directors, flight operations have been suspended and an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders will be convened to consider winding up the company.



In a statement Jetmagic said it was a matter of deep regret for shareholders, directors, employees and supporters of the project that despite wide acclaim, Jetmagic had not proved to be a viable operation. Expected passenger demand did not materialise, especially in terms of business travel. In the case of a number of routes – including Brussels, Rome and Milan - the company had already announced that they had been, or would be, discontinued. The decision by competitors to introduce flights to some of Jetmagic’s most successful destinations had also impacted on the company’s business forecast for 2004.



The company enjoyed high passenger loads on a number of routes – particularly those to ‘holiday’ destinations, including Alicante, Barcelona, Nice, Nantes and Milan. However, there were very disappointing bookings on business routes - Brussels, London City, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Paris - with only Belfast City achieving satisfactory levels.



Jetmagic’s shareholders invested some €10 million in the airline which started operations from Cork last spring, including investments made by existing shareholders In the past month. There were a number of expressions of interest from third parties, based on a revised three year operating plan. However the short term financial requirements of keeping the business going proved insurmountable, the statement said, and the Board had no other option but to suspend operations.



The appropriate Authorities have been informed of the position and their assistance sought in the matter of an orderly wind-down with minimal impact on the airline’s customers. A formal meeting of creditors is being arranged.



Passengers booked to travel with Jetmagic are advised to make their own alternative arrangements with other airlines. Those who have paid for their Jetmagic flights by credit card should contact the card issuer who should arrange for a refund. Passengers who have taken out travel insurance should contact their insurer. If they have paid by a means other than by credit card and they have not taken out travel insurance then they should send any claims to



Jetmagic

Refunds Department

5100 Airport Business Park,

Cork,

Ireland.





A special free phone number has been set up to provide information and advice - the number to call is 1800 301060 within the Republic of Ireland, and +353-21-4518915 from outside the Republic of Ireland. These numbers will be operational from 7am on the 29th January 2004.


Unquote

Jetmagic - Operations ceased!
 

I regret posting this bad news but tonight it was announced in Cork that Jetmagic have ceased operations. No other details at the moment.

As a Cork enthusiast Jetmagic meant so much to me and for the time being I am just devastated at this news. This is terrible!

I didn't think that CRK with a population of only around 100,000 could sustain the amount of new routes planned by Jetmagic. Maybe DUB could do with a premium service to Europe now that Aer Lingus have gone low cost.
Sad news alright.

Jetmagic began routes to Britain last September coming to the end of the summer season. Hardly the best time. Routes to London City and Liverpool were were very poorly supported with Edinburgh performing somewhat better, perhaps sustainable at some time in the future.

Brussels was cut from two to one daily service around the end of August start of September 2003 and the route was axed completely at the end of October. It is ironic that in the last five weeks or so of the Brussels service the loads had improved and quite dramatically so at times. In recent weeks there were rumours that Brussels might have been reinstated - perhaps, not a bad idea!

On the whole Belfast performed satisfactorily and reasonably good loads have been sustained even through the winter period so no great problem there with Belfast.

The French destinations to Nantes and Nice did very, very well all last summer and were doing okay over the winter months too, not great but more than reasonable for the time of year. Paris CDG was a loser though and it should not have been - a 6 pm departure must have been a bummer - early morning surely would have been a better bet?

Alicante and Barcelona had wonderful loads throughout last summer and continued to do well enough through the winter. ALC and BCN were cancelled just once in recent weeks to the best of my knowledge.

Not as sure of how Milan and Rome have been doing over the winter. The loads were fine last summer and at the Christmas period there were quite a few 30+ loads. Yesterday, there were 28 pax from Milan. Both the Italian routes were due to be dropped for the coming summer. The dropping of Rome was disappointing but as it was a three hour flight there and another three hours back they probably wanted the aircraft to do some shorter sectors - there was talk of two new routes to France. Milan was more understandable as EI are due to go there twice weekly for the coming summer.

Brussels with two daily rotations, London City with two to three daily rotations and Liverpool with two daily rotations along with Paris CDG really helped to screw Jetmagic. They did have a new slot for a 0735 departure to LCY which would have meant better loads for the summer due to overflow from standbys on EI to LHR but that is just history now.

There was just not enough cash flow from the business routes in particular - I wonder is the moral of the story to stick to leisure routes ex Cork for a new entrant? Maybe so, but how sustainable on smaller regional jet aircraft and for bigger aircraft Cork is just too small?

What a sad day for aviation in Cork.



:(

Using expensive (presumably) jets and selling cheap was always a recipe for disaster, especially on unproven routes such as Brussels and Liverpool. Pity to see them go but I doubt that any of their realtively successful route(s) will be vacant for long - the phoneline between Galway and ATR is probably busy right now! Aer Arran got their Cork positioning right - gradual build and realistic expectation of what they can sell for - Jetmagic didn't. Welcome to de real world!

Bad news indeed.

Right idea, but I'd seriously question the number of routes they opened initally, maybe to many? I think to start they should have opened 3-4 routes, got a foothold on them and sustained decent load factors, and then reviewed the situation, and expanded from there.

Also, I have spoken to a number of people in the Munster region, who had never heard of Jetmagic! Not good news as this area would have obviously been their target audience. Furthurmore this would have been compounded by the fact that I never saw (untill recently) any ads in the paper re: Jetmagic. Recently I saw one in the Irish Times. Maybe they were advertising in another paper but I didn't see their ads!!

Shannon airport, should not have been too much of a threat to Jetmagic, as European destinaions are pretty limited from there, expecially if you exclude the Ryanair handful.

But the damage has been done, €11M debt in 9 months is not good news.

Michaelknight

Very sad development. Having flown Aer Arann ATR and Jetmagic's Dornier and EMB, there is no comparison. Jetmagic will be sorely lost this summer. There is just so much turboprop flying that one can take - back to the ear muffs and a large paperback.

From listening to radio phone ins etc this morning it is clear that the plain people of Cork were more than happy to try what Jetmagic had on offer especially to the sunny leisure destinations. It is far more evident now that the likes of so called businessmen just failed to support the flights to London City in particular. However, in saying that, it could also be argued did Jetmagic get it a little wrong in the first place by going to LCY? The last year BA operated to Cork from Gatwick they carried 160,000 passengers on the route - surely if Jetmagic had gone to LGW instead they would have had a far more captive market?

You could be right Tom although I have used them for both business (LCY) and holiday (Rome) flights. If the new CEO saw that things were this grim last November, then he sould have cut routes, trimed down the company and concentrated on the holiday destinations. Time isn't on your side when you are loosing money. To your point regarding LGW, yes I would have used them on that route as well.

With regard to Brussels, I believe that their timings were all wrong. First of all the actual schedules were not ideal. Secondly, they began the operation just before the Summer when business loads traditionally go down. Not surprisingly the route bombed and they soon cut it down to a single daily, thus even less enticing for the businessman. In early September they dropped the route altogether just at a time when business traffic picks up after the Summer lull. I believe Brussels would have been a successful route had it been given a fair chance.

Anyway, sad to hear the news.

I was gutted to hear the news this morning regarding Jetmagic - my heart goes out to the 100 odd staff who fined themselves on the dole queue.

Lets hope the successful routes that Jetmagic operated can be picked up by other airlines, I certainly believe the BHD-ORK route will be snapped up (if I was a betting man my money would be on Aer Arann).

mysecretsmile


Your suggestion that BHD - ORK might be suitable for Aer Arann would be OK as long as they they didn't make the same mess as they did with BHD - DUB. I'm sure you recall this barely lasted 8 weeks and the lack of success was due to poor scheduling and fare structure which hardly encouraged healthy support. If they can come up with suitable timings and fares than they would have as good a chance as any of making a success of it.

However, it should be borne in mind that one of the attractions of Jetmagic service was its speed - the ATR would be considerably slower which is why the Q400 of Flybe might be much more suitable.

Jet Magic were doomed from the start. The delay in obtaining an AOC, having 3 aircraft on the ground while leasing others, the wrong aircraft, delay in certification for London City, using Cork as a hub, how could 100,000 people support this level of service particularly when they are part of the expectant low yield Irish market. There were so many questions. even if it had worked, a loco seeing the success would have wiped them anyway. Cork has improved in recent times but I think future growth is in the charter market. I do sympathise with the staff, and investors who had the balls to run with this project. You all know how to make a million in aviation....start with ten

:( :confused: :(

When i first saw the cancellation to BHD this morning I thought it was just another weather problem....unfortunately not.. :(

Sorry for all the people who's livelihoods depended on them....good luck in the big bad world...:uhoh:

Condolences to all there, especially Nick C, respected former colleague. (My best wishes to you and yours, Nick, good to see you a few months ago).

Strange that in a time of world-wide air travel boom, the jobs market is so poor, and so much bad news presents.

Sad news, condolences to all involved.
Correct me if I'm wrong but was the LCY Embraer certification initiated by Jetmagic? If so then at least one good thing came about from their existence.

Runwayedge, most of what you say is correct. However, the pop of Cork is about 250,000 to 300,000 now. Including the commuter towns and its about 1/2 million. Expect to see RE grow its base there!

How much longer until DUO collapses too? I guess BHX is a much larger city than Cork, but operating expensive jets (read high CASM) with few seats can't be good without possible hub connections.... I hope DUO can manage much better and learn from the Jetmagic disaster...

It a great shame...a good idea maybe just the in the wrong place?

No Comment: Yep it's my understanding that it was jetmagic that pushed for LCY certification at least that's what the Jungle jet gang tell me.

I too would notbe surprised if Padrig and his merry gang aren't working on expansion plans right about now.