MyTravelLite founder set for combat with Ryanair

Tim Jeans has in-depth knowledge of Ryanair's battle plans and intends to

Tim Jeans, the founder of the British-based low-cost airline MyTravelLite, is preparing for a fierce battle at Dublin Airport this autumn.

The former Ryanair sales and marketing director has boldly announced a new daily service between Dublin and Birmingham from September 30th with fares starting at €1.99 plus taxes each way.

The 10-month-old airline is part of the MyTravel tour operator group and already operates flights to Birmingham from Knock and Belfast. Its expansion to Dublin is a more daring move, pitting Mr Jeans against his old boss, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary, and a rejuvenated Aer Lingus under Willie Walsh.

"It will get bloody but this is not some sort of testosterone contest. I think there is a sound business opportunity and I am sure that, in due time, Ryanair will probably come to accept us on this route," Mr Jeans says.

Starting a low-fares airline, even with the backing of a long-established tour operator, is not for the faint-hearted. "You don't realise just how scary it is. It's a bit like a bobsleigh ride - calm and civilised at the top and suddenly you are doing 80 miles an hour and things are flashing past you at an incredible rate of knots."

Mr Jeans worked at Ryanair for seven years before returning to the UK in June 2002. During his career there he was directly responsible for generating a lot of the publicity for the airline by setting up new routes and seat sales. He was also closely involved in directing attacks against its competitors and will be hoping that his in-depth knowledge of Ryanair's battle plans will work to his advantage.

"Ryanair has already lowered its fare to Birmingham to 99 cents. To be honest that's great. Our arrival is now being advertised on Europe's busiest website. That's fine for me. They are playing my game," he says.

"Ryanair will not give in easily. They will not roll over. I'll be like a boil it wants to lance. The only issue is can we make enough noise and create enough local awareness in the market that we will make our presence felt?"

Ryanair quickly saw off the last low-fares airline that muscled in on its turf in Dublin. When British Airways subsidiary Go introduced a route to Edinburgh, Ryanair quickly waged a fares war that forced a hasty retreat.

Mr Jeans, who was involved in destroying Go's Dublin business, says MyTravelLite is less vulnerable. "We haven't got the same overhead of aircraft and crews allocated to the Dublin service that Go did when it went full throttle into the lion's den."

MyTravel head-hunted Mr Jeans from Ryanair to spearhead its foray into the cutthroat, but potentially lucrative, low-cost airline business. The 30-year-old company had been built around selling one- and two-week holiday packages, but recognised that this market was growing at 3-5 per cent at best compared to the 25 per cent annual growth being achieved by carriers such as Ryanair.

Mr Jeans says the group has budgeted that it will lose its initial €5 million investment in the company, but he has given a commitment that it will break even in 2004. "MyTravelLite uses the resources of its mothership, MyTravel Airways, and is burdened with few if any of the overheads of a standalone operation. This gives us a huge cost advantage."

Since it began in October 2002, it has sold 930,000 seats, predominantly over the internet. Mr Jeans will not provide any financial details regarding its trading but says that it exceeded its business targets in the first six months of this year. The expansion of its services signals the board's commitment to this venture, he says

Ironically, MyTravelLite announced its Dublin route on the day that FreshAer, the British company planning to offer budget flights from October, said it would refund all monies to passengers and announced the departure of a key executive and financial backer.

Mr Jeans says it is inevitable that Irish consumers will initially be wary of another airline opening for business at this time but believes there is no such thing as bad publicity.

"You have always got to establish your credentials as a new entrant. In some ways, in terms of creating interest in the story, it couldn't have been better.

"The important thing that I have got to do is to make sure that people understand that this is not a start-up business but is part of a very well established and robust organisation," he says.

MyTravelLite will be successful in Ireland if it offers good value for its customers. "The market buys on price. People lack a loyalty to low-cost airline brands and I am under no illusions on that," says Mr Jeans.

Over the coming months, MyTravelLite intends to make a lot of noise to alert people to its arrival.

"It is not just about big advertising spends, it's about making a lot of noise. It's about being controversial if needs be and taking the fight to Ryanair. We will roll the tanks on the enemy lawns so to speak."