captjns
7th Mar 2006, 12:38
Ryanair Founders Join Mexican Low-Cost Airline
February 28, 2006 The Ryan family, founders of Europe's biggest low-cost airline Ryanair, has teamed up with one of Mexico's largest bus companies to launch a new, no-frills carrier targeting travelers with families in the United States.
The Ryan family said it had linked with bus company IAMSA to create a company whose commercial name is still being decided.
Earlier on Monday, a Ryan family statement said the new carrier's name was AeroBus.
The Mexican airline industry staged a radical turnaround last year with the arrival of new low-cost airline companies and the privatization of Mexicana, one of the two top local airline companies. The other, Aeromexico is still to be sold.
In 1985, the Mexican industry carried about 15 million passengers. Today the country's air traffic is around 30 million.
Ryanair, founded in 1985, carries some 70 million passengers, more than the entire Mexican industry and offers average fares 75 percent lower than the carrier charged two decades ago.
Mexico "remains a fantastic opportunity for commercial aviation with excellent tourist, labor and business traffic potential that is largely untapped," Ryanair founder Tony Ryan said at a conference in Mexico City.
Pending the government's final authorization, the airline is expected to launch in September, carrying 1.5 million passengers during the first year of operation, and include US cities among its destinations.
IAMSA's president, Roberto Alcantara, said the new company would start operations with a USD$50 million investment and two planes. But the fleet, which will operate under leasing contracts, could grow to 10 by 2007.
The routes have not yet been decided, but Alcantara said the company is interested in cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston and Chicago - all of which have large Hispanic populations.
The company could open Mexican headquarters in Toluca, where rivals Interjet and Volaris already set up shop in 2005, but the central Mexico cities of Queretaro, Puebla and Cuernavaca, as well as Monterrey in the north and Guadalajara in the west are also possibilities.
The new carrier will go after the so-called ethnic market, or "families and migrating workers that travel frequently to several US cities," Alcantara said.
Ryan said the company could break even within two years.
The Ryans joined with Maurice Mason of Kite Investments to establish RyanMex to facilitate the family's investment in the Mexican airline. Investor Mason has other ventures around the world outside the airline industry.
RyanMex will have a 49 percent of shares in the new airline, while IAMSA will hold a majority stake.
Brazil's GOL is also expected to launch operations in the low-cost market segment during the first half of the year.
(Reuters)
http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1141129261.html
February 28, 2006 The Ryan family, founders of Europe's biggest low-cost airline Ryanair, has teamed up with one of Mexico's largest bus companies to launch a new, no-frills carrier targeting travelers with families in the United States.
The Ryan family said it had linked with bus company IAMSA to create a company whose commercial name is still being decided.
Earlier on Monday, a Ryan family statement said the new carrier's name was AeroBus.
The Mexican airline industry staged a radical turnaround last year with the arrival of new low-cost airline companies and the privatization of Mexicana, one of the two top local airline companies. The other, Aeromexico is still to be sold.
In 1985, the Mexican industry carried about 15 million passengers. Today the country's air traffic is around 30 million.
Ryanair, founded in 1985, carries some 70 million passengers, more than the entire Mexican industry and offers average fares 75 percent lower than the carrier charged two decades ago.
Mexico "remains a fantastic opportunity for commercial aviation with excellent tourist, labor and business traffic potential that is largely untapped," Ryanair founder Tony Ryan said at a conference in Mexico City.
Pending the government's final authorization, the airline is expected to launch in September, carrying 1.5 million passengers during the first year of operation, and include US cities among its destinations.
IAMSA's president, Roberto Alcantara, said the new company would start operations with a USD$50 million investment and two planes. But the fleet, which will operate under leasing contracts, could grow to 10 by 2007.
The routes have not yet been decided, but Alcantara said the company is interested in cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston and Chicago - all of which have large Hispanic populations.
The company could open Mexican headquarters in Toluca, where rivals Interjet and Volaris already set up shop in 2005, but the central Mexico cities of Queretaro, Puebla and Cuernavaca, as well as Monterrey in the north and Guadalajara in the west are also possibilities.
The new carrier will go after the so-called ethnic market, or "families and migrating workers that travel frequently to several US cities," Alcantara said.
Ryan said the company could break even within two years.
The Ryans joined with Maurice Mason of Kite Investments to establish RyanMex to facilitate the family's investment in the Mexican airline. Investor Mason has other ventures around the world outside the airline industry.
RyanMex will have a 49 percent of shares in the new airline, while IAMSA will hold a majority stake.
Brazil's GOL is also expected to launch operations in the low-cost market segment during the first half of the year.
(Reuters)
http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1141129261.html