CityJet, the Swords-based regional airline owned by the Air France KLM Group, will not launch any new routes out of Dublin until the city's airport infrastructure has been significantly improved, chief executive Geoffrey O'Byrne White said yesterday. Ciarán Hancockreports.
Mr O'Byrne White was speaking from London City Airport, where he announced details of eight new routes to be launched from there on March 26th. This is part of an expansion plan that will see CityJet spend $221 million (€168 million) on 23 new aircraft over the next 12 months.
CityJet, which targets business passengers, operates daily flights from Dublin to London City Airport and to Charles de Gaulle in Paris, with fares averaging €160 or more.
Dublin, however, has been bypassed in this round of expansion.
"Our fleet is specifically designed for high frequency and to cater for the business community," Mr O'Byrne White said. "The expansion in Dublin [ in recent times by rivals] has been almost exclusively of the low-cost variety.
"We hope to have expansion out of Dublin as well but we have to wait until the airport sorts out the infrastructural problems that currently exist."
Mr O'Byrne White said he would like to launch a service from Dublin to Amsterdam. "That might be possible in a year or so," he said.
CityJet, which was founded by Irish businessman Pat Byrne in 1994 before being acquired by Air France six years later, employs 80 staff at its head office in Swords. About 100 crew are also based there.
Mr O'Byrne White said it had no plans to relocate its headquarters operation out of Dublin.
CityJet's new routes will see it operate flights from London to Geneva, Madrid, Milan Linate, Nice and Zurich.
In addition, it will offer services to Belfast Harbour airport, Edinburgh and Dundee in conjunction with ScotAirways, a UK airline.
The Irish airline expects to double its annual passenger numbers to three million as a result of this move. Revenues are also projected to double from their current level of €250 million a year.
CityJet is introducing 23 Avro RJ85 aircraft, seating 95 passengers each, to its fleet.
They will replace its 20 Bae 146-200 aircraft on a phased basis.
