CityJet will wet-lease five CRJ1000 aircraft to Lufthansa for the 2024 summer season. The five 100-seat jets will be based at Frankfurt from the end of March and operate services on behalf of Lufthansa across Europe until the end of October. In 2023, CityJet operated four aircraft on behalf of Lufthansa Group airlines – two for Brussels Airlines and two for Lufthansa.
Commenting on this development, Cathal O’Connell, Chief Commercial Officer of CityJet said “we are delighted to once again be able to provide service on behalf of Lufthansa as we continue to develop our wet lease business model at CityJet. This year, we will have a total of seventeen aircraft under contract with Lufthansa and SAS Scandinavian Airlines and look forward to continued development with our current and new customers into the future”.
CityJet provides its aircraft on a “wet lease” basis to its customer airlines, under which they are crewed and maintained by CityJet but fly on the routes of its customer airlines. In recent years, CityJet has provided capacity as a service to many major European airlines, including Aer Lingus, Air France, Brussels Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa and SAS. CityJet employs over 600 staff today, 80% of whom are located at its Scandinavian bases in Copenhagen and Stockholm, and retains its head office at Dublin Airport and a planning unit in London.
CityJet recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and became part of SARA – Strategic Alliance of Regional Airlines – in October 2023, making it part of the largest regional aviation platform in Europe in co-operation with Air Nostrum of Spain, a partner airline which is also in its thirtieth year.
