CityJet takes on BA with Scots flights

By Alastair Dalton
Published on Sunday 8 January 2012 00:00

A BATTLE for Anglo-Scottish business air passengers is looming as CityJet prepares to announce new flights and consolidate operations in Edinburgh.

The Air France-KLM-owned airline is expected to unveil extra services between the Scottish capital and London City airport, which has become a favourite among business travellers.

A new route from Aberdeen to the Docklands airport is also in the offing, 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 if BA takes over BMI.

CityJet chief executive Christine Ourmieres told Scotland on Sunday that the new base at Edinburgh Airport, with 42 staff, signalled the start of a new battle to win passengers from rival British Airways. The base will also serve Air France’s feeder route between Edinburgh and its Paris hub.

The moves will further increase the presence of the airline group – Europe’s third-biggest after Lufthansa and Ryanair – in Scotland.

KLM already claims to be the country’s favourite long-haul carrier, flying more passengers via its Amsterdam hub than BA through Heathrow.

However, BA carries some two-thirds of passengers on the Edinburgh-London City route, on which ScotAirways – CityJet’s predecessor – was once pre-eminent. BA operates six return flights a day, compared with CityJet’s three.

However, aviation experts said Dublin-based CityJet faced a tough task because BA operated larger and more efficient aircraft on the route.

Ourmieres said: “The new base shows our commitment for the future – it is the next step of our development in Scotland. We will try our best against BA and are confident of winning market share.

“We are working with airport authorities and finalising our plans, which include improving the frequency of flights.”

Ourmieres said she was optimistic about passenger growth. “We do not see the economy coming back in a huge way in 2012, but we expect some improvement and more business travellers,” she said.

“Even when restructuring, businesses will still need to travel, and hopefully the worst is now past.”

Despite stressing that London City would remain a “niche business airport”, she also saw scope in attracting more Scottish passengers, such as second-home owners, to transfer there to the airline’s 15 mainland Europe routes. A route to Brest has just been added.

She said CityJet expects to have broken even last year after losses were more than halved from ¤51 million to ¤23m in 2010.

Ourmieres attributed this to increased aircraft flying hours and crew productivity, while staff numbers have been cut by 6 per cent to fewer than 1,000 since she joined in 2010.

Aviation analyst John Strickland, of JLS Consulting, said CityJet could benefit from passengers keen for a choice of airline, especially with BA’s impending takeover of rival BMI on the Scotland- Heathrow routes.

However, he said their less fuel-efficient aircraft put them at a disadvantage, and it was too early to tell whether business confidence would improve.

Laurie Price, director of aviation strategy at consultancy Mott MacDonald, said: “It’s going to be quite a challenge for CityJet. BA has the right aircraft and are really focused on the premium market at London City.”

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7

Alasdair Glesca FanBoi

Monday, January 9, 2012 at 06:25 PM

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aIasdair

Monday, January 9, 2012 at 02:15 PM

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5

Chesh29

Monday, January 9, 2012 at 01:20 PM

#4 Ryanair has been massively beneficial to Edinburgh and to Scotland, bringing direct routes to international destinations that otherwise wouldn't exist at any Scottish airport. Prestwick may be dominated by Ryanair but Edinburgh is definitely not - it has plenty of irons in the fire, and many other airlines offering a variety of direct international routes. I'd rather have the mix of flights available at Edinburgh than to be in the situation BAA has placed Glasgow in - ie.. where over 50 per cent of international passengers are flying on poor quality, ned-ridden charter flights to tacky beach destinations. That's a far worse legacy. At least Edinburgh has a growing flow of passengers through the door, spending money in the airport shops and bars, and providing a steady income for the airport to re-invest in facilities and route development. That will continue, and no doubt accelerate, under new owners very shortly. Things are looking up for Edinburgh Airport.

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Roderus Beavrus aka Robin Bankes

Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 10:39 PM

#4 And they will find it impossible to compete with Ryanair - EDI's main customer - who have relegated EDI into a lo-co dominated regional airport who's management foolishly climbed into bed with Ryanair offering fly for free for two year discounts on all new Euro routes reverting to heavily subsidised landing charges for years 3 - 5. It is little wonder BAA are getting rid of EDI of their portfolio. You would actually think it was TIE who were in charge of route development at EDI.

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Chesh29

Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 02:40 PM

In the main City Jet's London City continental Europe operations are confined to a few marginal destinations like Antwerp, Nantes and Florence. It's hard to see very many people from Scotland opting to connect via London City when the scope of direct European services out of airports like Edinburgh and Aberdeen is already wide, and continuing to grow. They'll have to do better than that if they want to compete with Easyjet, Ryanair, Jet2, Lufthansa, Norwegian Airlines and other carriers who already offer far more convenient non-stop options from Scotland to many of Europe's major destinations.

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Roderus Beavrus aka Robin Bankes

Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 10:20 AM

I think there is a clue in the article:- "Despite stressing that London City would remain a “niche business airport”, she also saw scope in attracting more Scottish passengers, such as second-home owners, to transfer there to the airline’s 15 mainland Europe routes. A route to Brest has just been added."

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mahatmacoat

Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 09:45 AM

Good news..Perhaps a few direct Euro routes in the offing?

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