More flights from central London as airline reveals plans for Edinburgh base

By Dominic Jeff
Published on 17/03/2012 00:00

CityJet, an airline that specialises in flights from London’s central City airport, has confirmed it is increasing the number of flights to Edinburgh where it will establish a permanent base.

The firm will be adding to its weekday link between the two capitals bringing the total number of daily flights to four, as revealed in Scotland on Sunday in January.

It said the extra flight will give passengers more flexibility and choice when travelling, particularly at peak times. It is also adding a late night Sunday flight from London City to Edinburgh. A CityJet aircraft will be positioned overnight at Edinburgh airport ready for an early morning commuter flight to London on Monday mornings.

Around 40 permanent staff will now be based at CityJet’s base at Edinburgh airport, including flight crew, groundstaff and engineers. Although staff have been transferred to the Edinburgh base from other CityJet locations, any future staff vacancies will be recruited to work from the capital.

Chief executive Christine Ourmières said: “The service from Edinburgh is crucial to CityJet and will continue to remain an important element of the airline’s network. The fact that we’ve opened a permanent base in the city highlights our commitment to a future in Scotland and we are hopeful that the increase in daily flight frequencies will help to increase our market share of the London City route.”

She said the route was popular with business passenger and tourists alike.

The Air France-KLM-owned airline is also mulling a new route from Aberdeen to the Docklands airport, along with more flights from Dundee. Aberdeen was chosen because several oil firms have Docklands offices, and flights to Heathrow are expected to be reduced as British Airways takes over BMI.