LESLIE BUCKLEY and his fellow Airone Ventures investors are believed to have spent $4 million of their $30 million budget before aborting the takeoff of their proposed Caribbean-based low-fares airline.

It is understood that the fledgling airline was burning about $500,000 a month before the Irish investors decided to shelve the project.

Informed sources also tell us that Denis O'Brien had a small interest in the venture, although the telecoms and media entrepreneur preferred to keep his involvement very much under the radar.

Buckley and O'Brien have soldiered together on a number of ventures, notably telecoms groups Digicel and Esat. The Airone consortium included former rugby international Brendan Mullin, Ian Burns, the president of Dublin's Wanderers rugby club, and Peter Delaney, the former director of operations at Guinness Peat Aviation.

Airone's plan to launch a Caribbean airline was grounded by the Jamaican government's refusal to grant it an airline licence and a number of strong headwinds facing the industry.

It is understood that the Irish consortium threatened to relocate the operation to Barbados in the hope that it might persuade the Jamaican government to look favourably on its application.

With Air Jamaica experiencing turbulence, however, it seems the government wasn't minded to allow a low- cost competitor on to its patch at a time when it is trying to privatise the airline.

We understand that the government even made an informal approach to the Irish investors to see if they would be interested in taking over its flag carrier.

Airone had planned to link up with O'Brien's Digicel operation to sell tickets and to operate flights to the US at fares up to 80 per cent below current ticket prices.

It planned to take off in May and carry up to 600,000 passengers within two years.

The plan has been parked for now but don't bet against it being dusted off at some point in the future.