Budget airline leaves passengers stranded

13 May 2004

DUBLIN – Several hundred passengers travelling with a Dublin-based low-cost airline were left stranded in Spain Thursday.

JetGreen announced that it had suspended its flights and ceased trading Wednesday.

The airline started flying from Dublin to Malaga and Alicante in southern Spain only last week.

At least 200 passengers, who bought tickets to Spain for only EUR 1, were left stranded at the airports Thursday.

JetGreen bosses explained that their collapse was due to the withdrawal of a major backer who was to have invested  EUR 800,00 in the fledgling company.

The company deposited EUR 500,000 with the air regulatory authorities  in case the company collapsed.

The cash will be used to reimburse passengers, whose flights were cancelled.
 
It was thought the stranded passengers will be flown back to Dublin with Irish carrier Aer Lingus by Friday at a cost of EUR 240 per passenger.
 
The other low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair has all its flights booked until Saturday and could not fly any of the stranded tourists home. 
 
In the past month, JetGreen took on 22 workers and launched a publicity campaign, offering cut-price tickets.
 
The airline claimed it planned to launch routes to Rome, Faro in Portugal and Nice in southern France.

However, its only Boeing 757 remained parked at Dublin airport Thursday after making only a few flights to Malaga and Alicante.
 
The closure of JetGreen confirmed the difficulty of opening a new airline in the competitive budget-airline market, which is dominated in Ireland by Aer Lingus and Ryanair.

Another budget Irish airline, Jetmagic closed earlier this year with debts of EUR 11 million.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news