CityJet losses hit €30m for 2016
Cityjet have announced losses of €30.2 million before tax for 2016 mainly driven by once off costs of €8.4 million for the acquisition of new aircraft and foreign exchange losses of €13.1 million. The €8.4 million also includes the costs of type training for staff on the new aircraft types. The airline is currently in a transition from offering scheduled services to wet leasing. Cityjet currently has deals with SAS, Brussels Airlines, KLM and Air France operating nine crew bases around Europe. Last month, KLM announced that they were going to lease an additional two RJ85’s from Cityjet on top of the existing two they already lease from the airline. New customers are expected to be announced in 2018.
Cityjet Executive Chairman Pat Byrne
Revenues during the year rose by 20% to €198.2 million from €165.1 million in 2015 and is expected to hit €276 million in 2017. Losses from its day to day operations stood at €1.8 million. Executive Chairman Pat Byrne said that CityJet expected cash flows to strengthen next year.
“The business is changing,” he said. “The larger airlines are looking more and more at outsourcing their regional routes. We should have profits worth writing home about in 2019,” he added.
“Significant progress has been made in 2016 in restructuring CityJet from being predominantly a scheduled carrier to being predominantly a wet lease operator, albeit with a significant scheduled presence,” according to Mr Byrne. It is expected the scheduled services will only amount to approximately 15% of its business when the transition is complete. Expansion of the company has been rapid, mainly due to the acquisition of Finnish carrier Blue1 in 2016 and Danish company Cimber earlier this year.
As of 30th September, Cityjet have 38 aircraft comprised of 16 x Bombardier CL600’s (EI-FPA-R), six Sukhoi SSJ-100 Superjets (EI-FWA-F) and 16 x Avro RJ85’s (EI-RJC/D/F/G/H/I/N/O/R/T/U/W/X/Y/Z, EI-WXA). CityJet now employs 1,250 people, up from an average of 812 people last year and 506 in 2015.
About the Author
Mark Dwyer Mark is an airline pilot flying the Boeing 737 for a major European airline. In addition he is also a Type Rating Instructor, Type Rating Examiner and Base Training Captain on the B737. Outside of commercial flying Mark enjoys flying light aircraft from the smallest 3 Axis microlights up to heavier singles. He is also an instructor and EASA Examiner on single engines and a UK CAA Examiner. He flies the Chipmunk for the Irish Historic Flight Foundation (IHFF). Mark became the Chairman of the National Microlight Association of Ireland (NMAI) in 2013 and has overseen a massive growth in the organisation. In this role he has worked at local and national levels. In 2015, Mark won ‘Upcoming Aviation Professional Award’ at the Aviation Industry Awards sponsored by the IAA. Mark launched this website back in 2002 while always managing the website, he has also been Editor and Deputy Editor of FlyingInIreland Magazine from 2005 to 2015.
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