CityJet is an Irish regional airline with headquarters in Swords, Dublin.
It operates mainly out of London City Airport, as well as Cardiff Airport and Cambridge International
Airport and 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.
Since its takeover of VLM Airlines, CityJet also has some facilities in Antwerp, Belgium.
The airline owns and operates maintenance facilities at Dublin Airport and Antwerp Airport.
With sister company, VLM, CityJet operates a mixed fleet of Avro RJ85 and Fokker 50 aircraft
with a capacity of 95 and 50 respectively.
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, in partnership with Air Foyle Ireland, Air France took a 25% equity stake
in the airline.
In February 2002, Air France assumed complete control.
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 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.
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.
In June 2012 it was announced that Air France-KLM was considering selling CityJet to support
its own ailing business, with a further statement in April 2013 that the winning bidder would
be announced in the summer of 2013.
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.
In December 2013 Air France announced to sell CityJet including VLM Airlines to German investor
Intro Aviation.
The transfer was completed in May 2014.
Intro's owner announced shortly after, that CityJet would be merged with InterSky to form
a new, larger regional carrier.
Destinations
CityJet operates mainly under its own name with a codeshare-agreement with Air France
and additionally also operates some routes for Air France on a wetlease contract.
Its operations are focused at London-City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly.
One of its main competitors is BA CityFlyer.
Cityjet's main hub is London City Airport with more than 20 aircraft based there.
Fleet
As of May 2014, the CityJet fleet consists of the following aircraft.
Sponsorships * CityJet is also the 'Official Airline' of
European Champions Leinster rugby.
See also Transport in Ireland
References
Fuelled by Belief: The CityJet Story by Pat Byrne, first printed September 2004 - ISBN
1-904148-57-3 Further reading
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