- CityJet
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CityJet IATA
WXICAO
BCYCallsign
CITY-IRELANDFounded 1992 Commenced operations 1994 Hubs - Dublin Airport
- London City Airport
- Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport
- Rotterdam The Hague Airport
- Antwerp Airport
Fleet size 39 Destinations 15 Parent company Air France-KLM Headquarters Swords Business Campus
Swords, IrelandKey people Christine Ourmières (CEO)
Pat Byrne (Chairman)
Michael Collins (CFO)Website cityjet.com CityJet Limited is an Irish regional airline headquartered in the Swords Business Campus in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland.[1] It operates at London City Airport, and flies franchise services on behalf of its parent company Air France from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Since the take over of VLM Airlines, CityJet has some head-office departments located in London and Antwerp, Belgium. The airline owns and operates maintenance facilities at Dublin Airport and Antwerp Airport.
They operate a mixed fleet of Avro RJ85 and Fokker 50 aircraft on a network out of London City Airport. CityJet competes with BA CityFlyer on flights to Edinburgh and Amsterdam, and Luxair to Luxembourg. It is the sole carrier on its routes to Dublin, Dundee, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Antwerp, Paris, Florence, Milan and Nantes.
In the IATA year ending 31 March 2010, CityJet carried just over 1 million passengers on its London City Network.
Contents
History
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, Air France in partnership with Air Foyle Ireland took a 25% equity stake in the airline. In February 2002, Air France assumed complete control.[2]
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 it had signed an agreement for a full takeover of VLM Airlines NV from Panta Holdings[3] and later they announced on 28 May 2009 that VLM Airlines would gradually start to operate under the brand name CityJet. As of 1 June 2010 all of the 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.
Christine Ourmières joined as new chief executive on 1st October 2010. She has previously held a number of senior posts within the Air France-KLM group.
Future plans
As of 2 April 2011, CityJet will operate three new flights from Pau-Pyrénées to London-City, Dublin and Amsterdam using an Avro RJ85. A fourth destination to Southampton will be operated by Flybe, a UK regional carrier on a code-share basis with Air France. [4]
Financial Situation & Staff Relations
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 per cent from €282.4 million to €258.9 million over the same period. Passenger numbers grew, climbing by 6.5 per cent to 2.1 million, while average fares dropped by 16 per cent. CityJet’s directors said “the negative result at operating level was due to the continued severe economic environment with sharp decline in business traffic and extreme volatility in oil prices and currencies”. They said the airline’s network out of London City Airport “continued to be impacted by the difficulties in the banking and financial sectors”.[5]
Product
- No charge for any onboard services. No credit card fee for booking on CityJet website
- Franchise flights from Paris: three classes (business, premium economy, economy)
- Flights from London: two classes (premium economy, economy)
Flight number prefixes
CityJet operates flights using four IATA flight prefixes.
- AF – the majority of scheduled flights are numbered AF5XXX
- KL – CityJet flights from London City to Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Rotterdam carry both KL and AF codes
- VG – charter flights operate using the former VLM Airlines IATA code VG
- WX – charter flights operate using CityJet's own IATA code WX
Sponsorships
CityJet is the main shirt sponsor of London Irish Rugby Club for the third season. They were the official airline of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010.[6]
Destinations
Main article: CityJet destinationsFleet
The Fokker 50 fleet mostly carries names of cities the airline serves.
As of November 2010 the CityJet fleet consists of the following aircraft:
CityJet Fleet Aircraft In Fleet Passengers Registrations J Y Total Avro RJ85 23 var. var. 95 Fokker 50 16 var. var. 50 See also
References
- ^ "CityJet." Air France. Retrieved on 21 June 2010. "Address: CityJet Ltd. Swords Business Campus Balheary Road Swords, Co. Dublin Ireland"
- ^ CityJet wins Airline of the Year; CityJet.com
- ^ Message on the VLM website announcing the takeover - access date 24 December 2007]
- ^ "Air France launches 4 new destinations out of Pau". Air France Corporate Press Release. http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/press/news/article/item/air-france-ouvre-4-nouvelles-destinations-au-depart-de-pau/. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
- ^ Irish Times article reporting filing of CityJet's annual accounts
- ^ CityJet Flies Into The Spotlight EIFF
- Fuelled by Belief: The CityJet Story by Pat Byrne, first printed September 2004 - ISBN 1-904148-57-3
External links
Airlines of Ireland Aer Arann · Aer Lingus · Aer Lingus Regional · Air Contractors · CityJet · Ryanair
Categories:- Air France-KLM
- Airlines established in 1992
- Airlines of the Republic of Ireland
- European Regions Airline Association
- IATA members
- SkyTeam affiliate members
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