Tanya Airey's Sunway travel group has become the biggest Irish-owned tour operator in the State with capacity rising to 110,000 seats this year, writes Ciarán Hancock.

Born on St Valentine's Day in the year her grandfather Roy Beatty set up a niche travel agency in Blackrock, it is little wonder that Tanya Airey fell in love with the travel trade.

That was 1966 - when most Irish people were lucky to get one holiday abroad and there was a palpable thrill to air travel. Four decades on and low-cost airlines and the internet has made flying as cheap as chips. We can now travel to more destinations at keener prices and at times that suit us, not the travel industry.

"I remember, when I joined the business [full time] in 1984, I was selling flights to London for £89 plus £5 tax [each way] but you had to stay a Saturday night," Airey recalls. "If you were a businessperson travelling during the week for a night or two you were paying £400 plus. That's all changed now."

Indeed it has, and with it have gone the tasty commissions that travel agents used to earn from airlines. Tour operators are also under increasing pressure as more and more people book their holidays online.

Rumours of the demise of tour operators and travel agents have been greatly exaggerated, says Airey. Her Sunway travel empire, which overlooks the harbour and marina in Dún Laoghaire, continues to blossom.

Her four companies - Sunway Travel, Sunway Holidays, Priority Group & Incentive Travel and holidaysonline.ie - earned profits of €3 million from revenues of €60 million in 2005, the latest year for which published accounts are available.

It's a tight margin but a decent profit nonetheless.

Airey said revenues grew to €75 million last year making Sunway the biggest Irish-owned tour operator/travel agent in the State. This year the plan is to top €100 million in sales, helped by the acquisition in November of Omni Travel in Santry, which added about 20,000 seat bookings annually.

Sunway will also launch packaged holidays to the United States and trips to ski resorts in Andorra, Austria and Italy in April. These will complement its traditional sun packages, weddings abroad and city breaks.

Airey confidently predicts that Sunway's capacity will rise by 25 per cent this year to 110,000 seats. "It's good to diversify and offer different locations," she says. "Adding these packages means we can be a one-stop shop for people who take two or three holidays a year and many of our customers are repeat clients."

It's all a far cry from 1991 when the company launched its tour operations by offering Morocco as its first destination. Customers can now choose from up to 60 destinations, either through charter trips or scheduled flights.

Sunway has also joined the internet craze, offering bookings through sunway.ie and holidaysonline.ie. About 16 per cent of the group's business is driven from the internet. It's a modest yet growing part of the company's sales (last year the percentage was 9 per cent).

"Lots of people do their research through the web but they still like to be able to talk to people about their holidays," Airey said. "We're also like their insurance [policy]; they've got someone to look after them if anything goes wrong."

It is not just the growth of web-based travel operators that Airey is fighting to keep at bay. The large global tour companies have long dominated the Irish market and the recent spate of mega-mergers is set to concentrate power in even fewer hands.

The deal between Tui and First Choice will bring together Budget Travel and Falcon/JWT, giving them a majority share of the packaged holiday market here.

The international merger of Thomas Cook and My Travel, meanwhile, would see Sunworld and Panorama Airtours operating under the one umbrella.

Airey is relaxed about the latest merger proposals, which are subject to clearance from competition regulators. The travel business, she says, is big enough for everyone to have a decent share. "It's a bigger cake now and we can all have a slice of it."

She also believes there will be significant issues around the integrating of the various groups. "Falcon still goes through travel agents but Budget has cut commissions to travel agents and is doing its own thing. It will be interesting to see how that works out."

Airey and her family take four holidays a year. "We usually go skiing and a take a week during school mid-term breaks," she says. "We spend the summer in Brittas Bay."

Born in Dublin, she went to school in Waterford and grew up in Wexford. Summer holidays were spent working with her relatives in Blackrock. On leaving school, she took a one-year course in travel and tourism before joining Sunway in 1984.

Airey took the reins at Sunway in 1998 buying a majority stake in the family business.

Her father James Furlong and husband Philip Airey are also shareholders.

Like Gillian Bowler, the queen of Irish travel agents, Airey has a bronzed look and a bright and breezy air about her, though she has forgone the ubiquitous sunglasses.

Staff at HQ are squeezed in to every nook and cranny on the third floor of Marina House. Airey's office offers the most elbow room and adjoins a balcony with seating from which to enjoy the summer sun.

While hugely ambitious, Airey is, by her own admission, no workaholic. Her working day starts at about 8.30am after she has seen her three children off to school.

"I prefer to work through lunch and finish at around 5pm, unless there's something (travel-related) on in the evening."

Airey takes long walks around Dún Laoghaire most days to stay healthy. She is also trying to get the hang of golf, which she plays at her local club in Killiney.

"I would love to be able to play golf," she says. "I just go out and get frustrated. I've a 36 handicap. If I could get it to 35 I'd be delighted."

With frantic consolidation taking place in the tour operating industry, it surely won't be long before someone comes knocking on Airey's door with a takeover offer. "Obviously, everybody has a price but I don't see it happening. Besides, I don't know if I could play golf full time."

Fact file

Name: Tanya Airey.

Position: Managing director, Sunway travel group.

Age: 41.

Home: Dalkey.

Family: Married to Philip with three children.

Hobbies: Walking, reading and travel.

Why is she in the news: Recent mega-mergers among global tour operators are set to make Sunway the third biggest seller of package holidays in Ireland.