CityJet

CityJet
IATA ICAO Callsign
WX BCY CITY-IRELAND
Founded 1992
Commenced operations 1994
Hubs
Subsidiaries Cimber
Fleet size 45
Destinations 18
Headquarters Dublin, 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, Dublin.[2] Since 2017, CityJet had moved away from scheduled flights and has instead focused on wet leasing and charter flights.[3] The airline operated wet-lease services on behalf of Air France, Brussels Airlines, and Scandinavian Airlines. Its last scheduled service under its own brand name from London City Airport to Dublin Airport will cease on 28 October 2018. Air France sold CityJet to Intro Aviation in May 2014.[4] In March 2016 the airline was bought by founder Pat Byrne and other investors.[5]

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.[6] 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[7] 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.[8] 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,[9] with a further statement in April 2013 that the winning bidder would be announced in the summer of 2013.[10]

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.[11] 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][12] CityJet subsidiary VLM Airlines was bought by its own management and cut itself loose from CityJet. However, they were to 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.[13] This ended in March 2016.[14]

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.[15] However, both routes will cease by June 2015 since Flybe introduced flights the same routes from Cardiff, supported by the airports operator.[16]

In June 2015, CityJet announced the termination of Dresden, the last of four German destinations, due to low demand.[17] In October 2015, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced it would sell its Finnish subsidiary Blue1 to CityJet which however was planned continue to operate the company on behalf of SAS as part of a larger co-operation.[18][19] However, during 2016 Blue1 has been dissolved and merged into its new parent CityJet.[20]

On 28 June 2016, CityJet inaugurated its Sukhoi Superjet 100 revenue services with its first scheduled flight from Cork to Nantes.[21] Early December 2016, CityJet started recruiting Flight & Cabin Crew for a new Sukhoi Superjet 100 base in Brussels, Belgium.[22][23]

In January 2017, CityJet agreed to buy Cimber, which has a fleet of 11 CRJ900s,[24] from SAS. CityJet will continue to operate flights on behalf of SAS.[25]

In March 2017, CityJet stated that it planned to focus more on its wetlease business while reducing its own scheduled flights. This will lead to the closure of routes from London-City to Nantes and Paris as well as a downgrade of frequencies on other routes. CityJet plans to operate 80 percent of all flights on a wetlease basis in the near future.[26]

On 5 April 2017, it was announced that KLM Cityhopper would wet lease two Avro RJ85s from CityJet to operate four additional Amsterdam–London City services per weekday over the Summer 2017 season, starting 15 May 2017. This has since ceased.[27]

In late October 2017, CityJet cancelled most of its remaining routes from London City Airport leaving Dublin and Florence as its only scheduled destinations from there after operating a much larger network in previous years.[28]

In late August 2018, CityJet announced they would cease operating scheduled services under their own brand effective from 27 October 2018 but continue business as a ACMI leasing provider. The London-City to Dublin route is to be transferred to Aer Lingus, operated by Cityjet using two Avro RJ85 aircraft.[29]

Destinations

CityJet operates under its own name with a codeshare-agreement with Air France[30] and additionally also operates several routes for Air France,[30] Scandinavian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines[31] on a wetlease contract.

Fleet

Current fleet

CityJet Avro RJ85

As of July 2018, the CityJet fleet consists of the following aircraft:[32]

CityJet Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Avro RJ85 14 — 95 To be replaced by Sukhoi Superjet 100 by 2020
2 to be operated for Aer Lingus from 28 October 2018
Bombardier CRJ900 24 7[33] 90 All operated for Scandinavian Airlines[34]
Sukhoi Superjet 100 7 8 98 5 operated for Brussels Airlines
to replace the Avro RJ85 fleet[35][36][37][38]
Total 45 15

The existing entire Bombardier CRJ900 fleet is on wetlease to SAS – operate exclusively on behalf of SAS with crew from CityJet, in SAS livery. CRJ900 on order will replace Cimber aircraft in 2017 and 2018.[24]

Historic fleet

The airline has previously operated Fokker 50 and Saab 2000 aircraft.

Sponsorships

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "News Stream". www.cityjet.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  2. ↑ "CityJet Archived 5 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine.." Air France. Retrieved 21 June 2010. "Address: CityJet Ltd. Swords Business Campus Balheary Road Swords, Co. Dublin Ireland"
  3. ↑ "Cityjet is shifting gear from scheduled services to wet leasing". The Irish Times. 7 October 2017. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Air France confirms offer from Intro Aviation for CityJet, VLM - ch-aviation.com". Ch-aviation.ch. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  5. ↑ ""Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 August 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017. "
  6. ↑ CityJet wins Airline of the Year; CityJet.com Archived 18 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Message on the VLM website announcing the takeover Archived 14 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine. – access date 24 December 2007
  8. ↑ "Irish Times article reporting filing of CityJet's annual accounts". irishtimes.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  9. ↑ volaspheric: Air France-KLM considering to sell CityJet Archived 16 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "Irish regional CityJet CEO impressed with bidders | Wales Air Forum". Walesairforum.wordpress.com. 11 April 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  11. ↑ "Cityjet to terminate Air France franchise agreement from October - ch-aviation.com". Ch-aviation.ch. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  12. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  14. ↑ https://blueislands.com Archived 4 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ "CityJet and Stobart Air ink routes agreement - Independent.ie". independent.ie. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  16. ↑ "Cityjet pulls out of Cardiff in protest at Flybe routes". ch-aviation. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "aero.de – Luftfahrt-Nachrichten und -Community". aero.de. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  18. ↑ businesswire.com – SAS Enters into Agreements with Cityjet for Wet Lease and Sale of Blue1 Archived 16 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. 1 October 2015
  19. ↑ "CityJet to Fly New Aircraft For SAS". cityjet.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  20. ↑ "Blue 1 on ch-aviation". ch-aviation. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  21. ↑ ch-aviation.com – CityJet begins scheduled SuperJet operations Archived 2 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine. 1 July 2016
  22. ↑ "Superjet bases available Brussels". cityjet.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  23. ↑ "Senior Cabin Crew based in Brussels, Belgium". latestpilotjobs.com. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  24. 1 2 Nelson, Chris (25 January 2017). "Bombardier wins CRJ900 jet order from Irish carrier CityJet". The National. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  25. ↑ "CityJet to pay up to $434m for new jets and buys Denmark's Cimber - Independent.ie". independent.ie. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  26. ↑ aerotelegraph.com – "More Wetlease – CityJet reduces at London City Airport" Archived 1 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine. (German) 1 March 2017
  27. ↑ "KLM Cityhopper signs agreement with CityJet for the summer season". klm.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  28. ↑ "Where We Fly". www.cityjet.com. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  29. ↑ "Aer Lingus and CityJet Join Forces On Dublin London City Route". www.cityjet.com. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  30. 1 2 "Cityjet to terminate Air France franchise agreement from October - ch-aviation.com". Ch-aviation.ch. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  31. ↑ "Brussels Airlines outlines initial SuperJet operations". ch-aviation.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  32. ↑ "Latest Register and Monthly Changes". Irish Aviation Authority. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  33. ↑ https://flyinginireland.com/2018/06/cityjet-to-expand-fleet/
  34. ↑ "SAS enters into agreements with Cityjet for wet lease and sale of Blue1 - SAS". SAS. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  35. ↑ "CityJet to Receive Its First SSJ-100 in May". Russian Aviator Insider. 14 March 2016. Archived from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  36. ↑ "CityJet to Take Delivery of 15 Superjet SSJ100". CityJet. 13 October 2015. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  37. ↑ "CityJet eyes more Euro white-label contracts". ch-aviation.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  38. ↑ "First Superjet SSJ100". cityjet.com. Archived from the original on 13 June 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  39. ↑ "Celebrates The Heineken Cup As Official Airline of the Leinster Team". CityJet. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.

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.

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