CityJet

CityJet

IATA ICAO Callsign WX BCY CITY-IRELAND
Founded	1992
Commenced operations	1994
Hubs	London-City Paris-Charles de Gaulle (on behalf of Air France) Dublin Airport Helsinki Airport (on behalf of SAS)[1] London Southend Airport (begins April 2017)[2]
Airport lounge	Departure Lounge
Alliance	SkyTeam (affiliate) (when operating for Air France)
Subsidiaries	Blue1
Fleet size	28
Destinations	18
Headquarters	Swords Business Campus Swords, Ireland
Key people	Pat Byrne, Executive Chairman Eugene Quigley, COO Cathal O Connell, CCO
Website	cityjet.com

CityJet is an Irish regional airline with headquarters in Swords, County Dublin.^[3] It operates mainly out of London City Airport and operates under its own brand as well as wet-lease services on behalf of its partner Air France, which was the main owner until May 2014 when CityJet was sold to German owners Intro Aviation.^[4] The airline also owns and operates maintenance facilities at Dublin Airport.

History

Early years

A CityJet Saab 2000 in 1998

The airline was established on 28 September 1992 and started scheduled operations on 12 January 1994. It was founded by Pat Byrne and began operations between London City Airport and Dublin under a franchise agreement with Virgin Atlantic Airways. On 4 July 1997, the airline began operations on the route using its own identity, with Saab 2000 aircraft.

Initially, CityJet operated the Paris to London City service on behalf of Air France. In May 1999, in partnership with Air Foyle Ireland, Air France took a 25% equity stake in the airline. In February 2002, Air France assumed complete control.^[5] The airline from this time was marketed as CityJet for Air France.

Geoffrey O’Byrne White replaced Jacques Bankir as CEO of CityJet in 2000, and held this position until 2010.

On 24 December 2007, Air France-KLM announced that it had signed an agreement for a full takeover of VLM Airlines NV from Panta Holdings^[6] and announced on 28 May 2009 that VLM Airlines would gradually start to operate under the brand name CityJet. As of 1 June 2010, the whole VLM Airlines Fokker 50 fleet wore full CityJet livery, although VLM remained the owner of its own Airline Operators Certificate, and the Fokker 50 fleet is listed on the Belgian registry.

CityJet filed a pretax loss of €51.5 million for the year to the end of March 2010. This compared to a €53.9 million loss in the year to end March 2009. Revenues fell by 8 percent from €282.4 million to €258.9 million over the same period. Passenger numbers grew, climbing by 6.5 percent to 2.1 million, while average fares dropped by 16 percent.^[7] Christine Ourmières joined as new chief executive on 1 October 2010. She has previously held a number of senior posts within the Air France-KLM group. In the IATA year ending 31 March 2010, CityJet carried just over 1 million passengers on its London City network.

Latest developments

CityJet's first Sukhoi Superjet 100

In June 2012 it was announced that Air France-KLM was considering selling CityJet to support its own ailing business,^[8] with a further statement in April 2013 that the winning bidder would be announced in the summer of 2013.^[9]

As of October 2013 the operational agreement with Air France has been replaced by codesharing. CityJet since then operates most routes under its own WX code instead of Air France's.^[10] In December 2013 Air France announced it would sell CityJet including VLM Airlines to German investor Intro Aviation. The transfer was completed in May 2014.^[4][11] CityJet subsidiary VLM Airlines was bought by its own management and cut itself loose from CityJet. However, they will remain flying routes as ACMI operator for CityJet until at least Summer 2015.

In 2014, CityJet started a new codeshare with Guernsey based airline Blue Islands, after Blue Islands pulled out of selected European routes. Blue Islands would operate flights from Jersey to London City, and then passengers would get onto a CityJet operated flight to a European destination. ^[12]This ended in March 2016.^[13]

It was announced in November 2014, that CityJet routes from Cardiff to Edinburgh and Paris-Orly were to be operated by Stobart Air from 1 December 2014.^[14] However, both routes will cease by June 2015 since Flybe introduced flights the same routes from Cardiff, supported by the airports's operator.^[15]

In June 2015, CityJet announced the termination of Dresden, the last of four German destinations, due to low demand.^[16] In October 2015, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced it would sell its Finnish subsidiary Blue1 to CityJet which however will continue to operate the company on behalf of SAS as part of a larger cooperation.^[17][18]

On 28 June 2016, CityJet inaugurated its Sukhoi Superjet 100 revenue services with its first scheduled flight from Cork to Nantes.^[19]

On 27 October 2016, CityJet announced that they had reached an agreement with Stobart Group to base aircraft at London Southend Airport in Summer 2017, creating 80 new jobs for the local area. Route details were not stated.^[20]

Destinations

CityJet operates mainly under its own name with a codeshare-agreement with Air France and KLM^[21] and additionally also operates some routes for Air France on a wetlease contract.^[21] Its operations are focused at London-City and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. One of its main competitors is BA CityFlyer. Cityjet's main hub is London City Airport with many aircraft based there.

Fleet

CityJet Avro RJ85

As of 31 October 2016, the CityJet fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[22]

Sponsorships

• CityJet is the 'Official Airline' of Leinster Rugby.^[28]

See also

• Transport in Ireland

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Fuelled by Belief: The CityJet Story by Pat Byrne, first printed September 2004 - ISBN 1-904148-57-3
• Perry, Dominic. "Air France continues review of CityJet's future." Flightglobal. 31 October 2012.

External links

Media related to CityJet at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website