CityJet

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Cardiff Airport secures new airline for Glasgow and Paris flights

Cardiff Airport has secured CityJet, part of the Air France airline group, to operate their Glasgow and Paris (Orly) routes and immediately fill the breach left by Flybe.

CityJet will start serving the routes on 20th January 2014, ensuring there is a seamless transition for these vital services from the Welsh capital. This follows the announcement Flybe made on 4th December that it will be withdrawing these routes with effect from 19th January 2014, as a result of the reorganisation of its business.

CityJet’s initial schedule from 20th January will deliver a twice daily weekday service to Glasgow with daily weekend flights. Paris will be served by a daily flight Monday to Friday and on Sundays.

From the start of the summer schedule on 30th March, flights to Edinburgh and Jersey will be added. Edinburgh will be served three times a day Monday to Friday with one flight on Saturdays and two on Sundays. Jersey will be served with five weekly return flights. The summer schedule will also see a third daily flight added to the Glasgow route on Thursdays and Fridays whilst Paris (Orly) will then be served every day of the week.

By the middle of summer, CityJet will be operating more than 80 flights a week in and out of Cardiff Airport.

Christine Ourmières, CityJet’s Chief Executive, said: “We're very excited to be launching a dynamic new network from Cardiff, and are thrilled to introduce the CityJet service to Wales. We are confident that our network and schedule to these four new destinations will be a success – both for the Welsh community and for CityJet.

“We’re really pleased to be working with the team at Cardiff Airport as we share a common commitment to provide convenient, hassle-free travel to popular destinations throughout the UK and Europe. Like them, we’re expanding our network and are focused on offering choice for both business and leisure travellers, and providing the service the community wants and needs.”

CityJet is an award-winning regional airline, offering over 680 flights a week to popular destinations in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe and is renowned for its complimentary on-board service.

Cardiff Airport’s Chief Executive, Jon Horne, said: “This is fantastic news and I’m delighted CityJet has responded so quickly to pick up these vitally important routes from Cardiff Airport. We’re very pleased that there will be continuity in our services to Glasgow and Paris for the tens of thousands of passengers a year for whom these routes are vital.

“It is always good to welcome a new airline to Cardiff; in CityJet’s case it’s really great, given the scale of the commitment they have made to the Airport and to Wales.”

Commenting on the announcement, Cardiff Airport’s Chairman, Lord Rowe-Beddoe, said: “This is excellent news. We are delighted to welcome CityJet to Cardiff and to Wales. I am proud that the management team has succeeded in securing a new airline to fill the breach left by Flybe. The speed with which this has been achieved is testament to management’s commitment to ensuring the Airport’s success.”[/textarea]
Cardiff Airport press release: http://www.cardiff-airport.com/en/news/ ... ights.html

This is excellent work on the part of the CWL management team to get this replacement in so quickly so there will be no break of service on Glasgow and Paris when Flybe pulls out next month.

Nothing has been announced that I can find but the assumption is that the aircraft will be Fokker 50s although CityJet also operates Avro RJ 85s, as well as two Dornier 328s leased from from Suckling.

It's not clear whether CWL will become a crew and aircraft base or what will now happen with Loganair that recently announced it would be taking over from Flybe on the CWL-EDI route.

Potentially this is very good news for CWL as the fleet consists of the right-sized aircraft for routes there and it may be that in future the airline will expand its network.

CityJet, currently owned by the Air France Group, is in the process of being sold.

 

[Aviador]

I've already mentioned on the General thread, this is fantastic news for Cardiff airport and it's a massive coup for Cardiff airport. CityJet have a very good reputation in the business community and they are not shy from advertising so they are sure to give Cardiff airport a huge boost.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Air FranceKLM has been in the process of trying to sell CityJet since the summer of 2012.

CityJet has been loss making in recent years with a reported pre-tax loss in excess of 200 million euros loss last year; however most of this was in exceptionals and redundancy payments.

It had also been reported that in the event of failing to find a buyer the AF Group would continue to support CityJet in the forseeable future.

On Friday the AF Group announced that the German company Intro Aviation had made a firm offer to purchase CityJet and its subsidiary VLM. The offer provides for ongoing commercial co-operation with Air France. The deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2014.

Intro Aviation had been the leading contender to purchase CityJet for a long time. It would seem that Intro is a company with a track record of turning around ailing airlines.

I suppose the major question is how will they ensure that CityJet becomes a profitable enterprise?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Fares on sale from today

As previously announced by the airline CityJet fares between CWL and GLA and between CWL and ORY went on sale today - eventually, it took much of the day!

The snag is that only their premium fares are so far available which are in the range of £500 to £600-plus return.

Given that the first flights are due to take off in 12 days time it seems remarkable that the standard fares were not offered first. At the time of typing this they still aren't.

 

[Aviador]

Oh dear, that's not a good start at all.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Commencement of CityJet service at CWL

The airline commences its services at 0620 tomorrow with a rotation to Glasgow, followed by one to Paris Orly, ending the day with another GLA rotation.

GLA and ORY are the only airports served until the end of March when Edinburgh and Jersey will begin.

Flybe has now ceased its CWL-GLA and CWL-CDG routes and will end its EDI route at the end of March.

CityJet equipment at CWL is the Fokker 50.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Oh dear, it's not not a good start operationally.

This evenings Glasgow-Cardiff sector has been cancelled as has tomorrow's early morning CWL-GLA. Appears to be a technical problem with the Fokker 50. There was a problem on Sunday evening with a F50 being ferried to CWL to begin CityJet's service early the following day.

The elderly F50s are likely to want some tlc on occasions. It remains to be seen what the new owners intend doing about the fleet.

A poster on another forum flew on the early CWL-GLA this morning and reported just eleven passengers. Perhaps not a complete surprise because the flights were put on sale very late following CityJet's almost last minute decision to take on the routes that Flybe decided to axe.

The numbers that Flybe flew between CWL and both GLA and EDI suggest that if its marketing and advertising are on the ball CityJet should have no difficulty filling seats on a smaller aircraft than Flybe used.

 

[superking]

I did notice the aircraft was changed in orly when it did this rotation.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The morning GLA-CWL today has also been cancelled, meaning that the last three flights between CWL and GLA have been cancelled. The good news is that the mid morning flight to ORY is shown as operating, albeit with a 75-minute delay, so presumably another aircraft has been sourced.

Tech issues can and do occur with any airline but with only one aircraft currently operating out of CWL they will be a potential problem.

Passengers naturally don't take kindly to cancellations and with CityJet trying to introduce itself to a brand new market (for it) reliability is a must if new punters are not to be put off.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Summer 2014 programme

The CityJet summer timetable and booking availability from CWL is out today and shows from 30 March, EDI at 18 x weekly, GLA at 14 x weekly, ORY at 7 x weekly (daily) and from 20 April JER at 5 x weekly.

It's to be hoped that both CWL and CityJet give this maximum publicity and serious marketing.

 

[News Guru]

[textarea]CityJet is also starting new routes to Edinburgh and Jersey from March

The airline CityJet says it is committed to Cardiff Airport and may look to expand services in the future.

Boss Christine Ourmieres made the comments on a visit to the airport where the company started flights to Glasgow and Paris earlier this month.

CityJet, which is part of the Air France group, is also starting routes to Edinburgh and Jersey from March.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-sout ... s-25916356[/textarea]

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The CityJet CEO said, “Today in CityJet we are over the 65% load factor. If these routes [Cardiff] are consistent with the rest of our operation we are confident it will be sustainable.”

As for additional routes she said it was too early to say. However, she added: “If it makes sense with the right businesses cases, yields and number of passengers, then yes we would do it."

Reports in another aviation forum suggest that some of the early Glasgow flights saw loads of fewer than 20 passengers but the very short booking availability period has to be taken into account.

The loads that Flybe achieved on its CWL to GLA and EDI routes easily surpassed the 32/33 necessary to meet CityJet's 65% target so there should be no problem with these when the routes are worked up. ORY too, and probably JER in the summer (not sure if it will operate year-round) ought to meet the target.

The CityJet CEO is understandably cautious about the possibility of further routes. It will clearly depend on how the existing routes perform.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Anecdotal 'evidence' on a site that concentrates on aviation matters in Wales suggests that the CityJet loads on its Glasgow and Paris Orly flights are beginning to improve.

There is a lot of discussion as to what Intro might do with the ageing CityJet fleet
(F 50s and RJ 85s) when it gains control of the airline. The recent reports that it will be merged with InterSky, an airline controlled by the main man at Intro, are leading to speculation about the fleet.

The ancient F 50s that operate at CWL have had some problems in terms of availability with the latest being yesterday when the morning GLA and the ORY rotations were cancelled, almost certainly because of a 'tech' aircraft.

CAPA the aviation analysts wondered whether Intro, a company with a successful track record of quickly turning around unprofitable airlines before selling them on, would attract the attention of a UK-based operator such as IAG, Flybe or bmi regional in the event of Intro performing its magic yet again.

Whether the last two mentioned airlines would have the financial muscle must be a moot point.

 

[marsh.ger]

Some of the hick-ups which were experienced during the initial start-up should now feature less thanks to two further aircraft joining the Cardiff Airport base.

There are only certain occasions when all three aircraft will be needed and also there are now aircraft engineers at Cardiff.

There has been some good comments on social networking websites regarding the service.

 

[Aviador]

If the airline is committed to basing additional aircraft at Cardiff they must be planning more routes from the airport. 2014 should prove a good year for the airport if it keeps up the momentum.

 

[marsh.ger]

At present the 3 aircraft are not fully utilised however it is a case of finding routes which could slot in profitably between the current services.

The 3rd aircraft tends to operate a 9am service from Cardiff on certain days and also the JER will soon kick in.

It maybe a suggestion for them to move onto Belfast City with business friendly times which have been missing since bmibaby left the service. Flybe figures have usually been quite high considering it has been more of a leisure route.

Maybe the following could be considered with flexibility in the schedule.

Aircraft 1 - CWL-EDI-CWL / CWL-ORY-CWL / CWL-EDI-CWL
Aircraft 2 - CWL-GLA-CWL / CWL-EDI-CWL / CWL-GLA-CWL
Aircraft 3 - CWL-BHD-CWL / CWL-***SEE NOTE***-CWL / CWL-BHD-CWL

Note:

Aircraft 3 could operate the following ORK Mon_Wed_Fri_Sun & JER _Tue_Thu_Sun

 

[Aviador]

Cork is an odd route. Many UK regional airports struggle to maintain a year-round service to Cork. Perhaps it's a route that could be tried as a summer only service? Does Cardiff have a Paris service? Assuming it doesn't I would think Paris would be a better bed for a year round service.

 

[marsh.ger]

ORY is a CityJets Paris service (Paris Orly) and runs daily.

Cork is a service which was once operated by Aer Arann and briefly under the Aer Lingus Regional franchise on a 'W pattern' 6 x weekly and this was when the Swansea to Cork ferry was still operating.

Now the service is cancelled and that the economy has picked up it was quite a surprise that it wasn't a route added in the recent announcement.

This is why Cork may work at a 4 x weekly service on an aircraft with smaller capacity than the ATR72.

At present this is the current schedule (Up to 44 flights per week)

Edinburgh - 18 x weekly (3 x daily Mon-Fri, 1 x daily Sat, 2 x Daily Sun)
Glasgow - 14 x weekly (2 x Daily Mon-Wed, 3 x Daily Thu-Fri, 1 x Daily Sat-Sun)
Paris Orly - 7 x weekly (1 x Daily)
Jersey - up to 5 x weekly (Peak Season)

My suggestion in the previous post would mean (55 flights per week)

Edinburgh - 18 x weekly (As previous)
Glasgow - 12 x weekly (2 x daily Mon-Fri, 1 x Daily Sat-Sun)
Paris Orly - 7 x weekly (As previous)
Jersey - 3 x weekly (Tue, Thu, Sat)
Belfast City - 12 x weekly (2 x daily Mon-Fri, 1 x Daily Sat-Sun)
Cork - 4 x weekly (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun)

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Edinburgh - 18 x weekly (As previous)
Glasgow - 12 x weekly (2 x daily Mon-Fri, 1 x Daily Sat-Sun)
Paris Orly - 7 x weekly (As previous)
Jersey - 3 x weekly (Tue, Thu, Sat)
Belfast City - 12 x weekly (2 x daily Mon-Fri, 1 x Daily Sat-Sun)
Cork - 4 x weekly (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun)

Are you suggesting that CityJet might compete with Flybe on the BHD route? Is there enough traffic for both?

 

[marsh.ger]

I'm suggesting that Cardiff Airport needs a business friendly timed service to Belfast and Flybe are not the ones who can offer this which has been proved.

There are no rumours however it would make sense to utilise the aircraft and Belfast seems a logical step.