Cityjet has announced a 50 per cent increase in passenger numbers on its Dublin/London City airport route for the six months to the end of September, compared to the same period last year. The airline says it expects to carry 200,000 passengers on the route this year.
The company said yesterday that revenue was 52 per cent up on last year, following the airline's increases in frequency and capacity earlier in the year.
CityJet was put into examinership late last year, but was successfully restructured. The company owed £13 million, of which £6 million was written off by investors.
CityJet chief executive Mr Pat Byrne said yesterday that the Dublin-London route had been very profitable this year and the load factor had been very good. It operates a code-sharing agreement with Air UK on the route.
"We have finally broken the perception of people thinking only business, when they think of flying CityJet to London City airport," he said.
He added that it had taken "a lot of money and a lot of hard work" to change people's perception of the airline.
Mr Byrne said people are "fatigued" with Heathrow Airport and are now realising London City Airport is a suitable destination for a range of other options, including visiting the West End, and not just for visiting businesses in the City.
Ironically, when CityJet was formed four years ago, it specifically targeted business traffic. Mr Byrne admitted this had been a mistake. "We concentrated on filling up the front of the plane and forgot about the back," he said. He also said winning business following examinership had been difficult, "because confidence had been eroded to a degree". He said people had misconstrued things, confusing examinership with receivership and had looked for other options.
Mr Byrne said the company's decision to offer more flights had proven to be correct. It now offers 40 per cent more flights.
It flies to Charles De Gaulle three times per day on weekdays, where it now claims a 20 per cent share of the market. It has been operating on the route since May under a code-sharing arrangement with Air France.
Mr Byrne said almost half the passengers who fly to Paris use it as a hub for onward connections.
CityJet also leases five aircraft. Mr Byrne said the company did not need to raise money at present, but would consider doing so if it decided to lease more aircraft. He added that the company expected to "make a few bob" early next year.
Malmo Aviation of Sweden is a 42 per cent shareholder in CityJet. Yeoman International Holdings has a 17 per cent sake and three private investors have 22 per cent. Standard Life has 16 per cent.
