Dublin-based CityJet will return to profit in 2015 says new owner Intro Aviation
Posted: May 1, 2014 Filed under: Airline & Route News | Tags: 2015, Air France-KLM, BCY, Cityjet, Fleet Renewal, Intro Aviation, Return to Profit, VG, VLM, VLM Airlines, WX Leave a comment
By Ciara O’Brien, Ciarán Hancock
CityJet’s new owner, German company Intro Aviation, expects the Irish airline to return to profitability in 2015 following its sale by Air France-KLM.
Speaking in Dublin earlier today, Hans Rudolf Wohrl, founder and chief executive of Intro Group, said: “We probably won’t be profitable this year but the losses seem to be reasonable.”
He added that the airline would “probably” return to the black in 2015 “but don’t ask me if I’m sure about it”.
“I’m not sure, everything is open”, he said, adding that fuel costs and competition on its key routes would be key factors in determining its financial performance.
CityJet has not made an operating profit since 2007. Latest accounts filed for the company show it made an operating loss of €21.3 million in 2012.
CityJet chief executive Christine Ourmieres said the airline was now debt free following the sale by Air France. “This is something that few airlines can say at the moment,” she said. “It means we are getting a fresh start.”
Ms Ourmieres said CityJet would rebrand in June and look at renewing its fleet “as soon as possible” to give it a longer range for flights. The airline has 18 Avro RJ85 regional jets and 11 Fokker 50 turbo prop aircraft. Limitations on the size of aircraft that can operate from its main hub at London City Airport make renewing the fleet a challenge, Mr Wohrl said.
Intro declined to comment on the financial terms around its purchase of CityJet but it is understood that Air France cleared the company’s debt as part of the transaction.
Ms Ourmieres said its services from London City to Dublin and Amsterdam were the airline’s busiest routes. Commenting on plans by rival Flybe to operate the London City to Dublin route from October, Ms Ourmieres said: “Competition doesn’t mean you have to panic…we will have to fight for this route.”
CityJet was founded in 1994 by Irish entrepreneur Pat Byrne, who then sold it on to Air France. The French airline decided to sell its Irish subsidiary two years ago for strategic reasons but a deal was only concluded recently.
The Swords-based airline has 850 staff, including about 300 in Dublin. There are four legs to the business – its operations on behalf of Air France, its hub in London City Airport, its regional UK and Europe routes (some undertaken by its Belgium subsidiary VLM) and charter flights.
Ms Ourmieres said job cuts are not planned. The airline wil continue to operates flights for Air France into Charles de Gaulle until 2017 and it has also signed code sharing agreements with the French airline and its Dutch associate KLM for the next three years, she added.
Ms Ourmieres and the airlines deputy chief executive Michael Collins will own 7.5 per cent of the airline under its new ownership structure.
Intro was founded in 1974 and it privately owned. It has investments across the aviation, retail and other sectors. The German company does not disclose its financial information.
In specialises in restructuring airlines and CityJet is its 11th such investment. Others have included Eurowings, Deutsche BA and LTU. It is currently the majority shareholder in Austrian regional airline InterSky.
“We’ve had only one airline that we couldn’t make work properly,” he said. “We hope CityJet will work well.”
Sourced by Irish Times
Sale of Irish airline Cityjet to be signed today
Posted: March 28, 2014 Filed under: Airline & Route News | Tags: Air France-KLM, BCY, Cityjet, Intro Aviation, sale, WX Leave a comment
German player Intro Aviation poised to buy airline from Air France KLM
Intro announced late last year it had agreed to buy CityJet from its owner, Air France KLM, for an undisclosed sum. It emerged yesterday that the deal will be signed today and will be completed in four weeks when the new owner will take control of the Dublin-based airline.
Original code
Today’s move also means that from Sunday CityJet will revert to using its original “WX” code, which it swapped for “AF” after Air France KLM took it over.
The management, led by chief executive Christine Ourmieres, will remain with the airline, but there are likely to be changes to the board.
Businessman Pat Byrne, who founded CityJet, is chairman of the company.
Air France KLM put CityJet up for sale last year. Intro and Dublin-based ASL Aviation, owner of cargo operator Air Contractors, were shortlisted from an initial list that is understood to include up to 20 parties.
The successful bidder’s owner Intro Group was founded by German businessman Hans Rudolf Wöhrl and is headquartered in Reichenschwand.
Mr Wöhrl established and expanded NFD, now known as Eurowings, to become the biggest independent German regional carrier. Since it sold NFD, Intro Group has maintained an active involvement in the airline sector through its subsidiary Intro Aviation.
Operating base
CityJet will continue to fly from Dublin to Paris and London City Airport, where it has its main operating base.
In 2012, the last year for which figures are available, CityJet posted a loss of €209 million.
This included an operating shortfall of €21.3 million and exceptional charges of €185 million.
Sourced from irishtimes.com
CityJet’s Christine Ourmieres reveals Cardiff Airport hopes
Posted: January 27, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cardiff Airport, EGFF, CWL, EDI, Edinburgh, Glasgow, GLA, Jersey, JER, Intro Aviation, EGPH, EGJJ, Committed, WX, BCY, Cityjet, EGPF, Christine Ourmières, Paris Orly, ORY, VLM, LFPO, VL Leave a comment
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.
Ms Ourmieres told BBC Wales the airline was looking to expand its operation and Cardiff was a “good business to start”.
“Customers will have a very good service closer to where they live and, therefore, for a very good price,” she said.
Asked whether she would look to expand operations at Cardiff, she added: “At this stage we are very open for any opportunity.
“It makes good sense for us.”
The airport was bought by Welsh ministers for £52m in March last year.
CityJet announced it plans after airline Flybe revealed in December it was axing its flights from Cardiff to Paris and Glasgow from 19 January.
Cardiff Airport chief executive Jon Horne said bosses had been speaking to other airlines, including CityJet, to find a replacement in advance of Flybe announcing its summer 2014 schedule.
Regarding CityJet, he said: “In making the decision to come to Cardiff in the way they have and on the scale they have is really a clear indicator of their commitment and understanding to the market here, the airport and the people in Wales.”
Sourced by BBC News Wales
CityJet earmarked for merger with German suitor
Posted: January 6, 2014 Filed under: Airline & Route News | Tags: 3L, AF, AFR, Air France, Air France-KLM, BCY, Cityjet, consolidation, European, InterSky, Intro Aviation, ISK, Regional Airline, Rudolf Wöhrl, VG, Vlaamse Luchttransportmaatschappij, VLM, WX Leave a comment
Consolidation in the European regional airline sector is expected through a possible merger between CityJet and German carrier InterSky.
German aviation investor Hans Rudolf Wöhrl wants his Intro Aviation company, which owns almost 75% of InterSky, to merge Air France-KLM owned CityJet and its subsidiary VLM.
Air France announced last month that Intro Aviation, of which Wöhrl is a co-founder, made a firm offer to buy CityJet and VLM, without disclosing financial terms.
It said it expected the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2014.
Reuters reported Wöhrl as telling German weekly magazine Wirtschafts Woche: “The aim is to create a new regional airline active across Europe that is big enough not to be pushed out by big carriers like Lufthansa.
“In Europe, there are not just low-cost flights and business for big monopolists like Lufthansa, but there is also a market for regional connections for business travellers who are not in the big economic centres of Europe.
“There will be a revival there, and more and more regions are suffering a lack of flight connections.”
Dublin-based CityJet, the main carrier at London City Airport, has a fleet of 38 aircraft and offers more than 480 weekly flights across Europe.
InterSky runs five aircraft, mainly serving destinations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Wöhrl bought German airline Deutsche BA from British Airways for €1 in 2003, via Intro Aviation.
He renamed the airline DBA and then sold it to Air Berlin in 2006. The same year, he took a majority stake in Germany’s LTU group before selling the rehabilitated carrier to Air Berlin in 2007.
Sourced by Travel Weekly
Intro Aviation places firm offer for Air France’s CityJet
Posted: December 20, 2013 Filed under: Airline & Route News | Tags: AF, AFR, Air France, BCY, Cityjet, Deal, Intro Aviation, WX Leave a comment
CityJet Dornier 328 By Rob Finlayson
By Victoria Moores
After months of discussions, Germany’s Intro Aviation has put in a firm offer for Air France’s Irish regional airline CityJet. The deal is expected to close in early 2014.
CityJet was put up for sale in the summer of 2012. Germany’s Intro Group emerged as a likely buyer and was expected to conclude talks in July, but exclusive negotiations ended in September without a deal.
However, in a brief statement issued late Friday, Air France said: “On Dec. 19, 2013, Air France received a firm offer from Intro Aviation to purchase CityJet and its subsidiary VLM. This offer provides for ongoing commercial cooperation with Air France as part of a new industrial plan.”
The French carrier will now begin an employee consultation on the sale, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. No financial details were given.
In October, CityJet CEO Christine Ourmieres told ATW at the European Regions Airline Association general assembly in Salzburg she was optimistic the deal would be concluded by the end of the 2013 calendar year. She was also seen speaking with Intro executives at the event, even though the exclusive talks has already ended at that point.
CityJet has been working to restore its independence while waiting on the sale and will resume operations under its WX designator from April 1 for the first time since it was acquired by Air France.
“This has been a fantastic opportunity to reinvent ourselves as we move out of the Air France cocoon,” Ourmieres said in October. “We have done it now so that by the [2014] summer season we can take a more independent approach to the market.”
Sourced by ATW Online
German suitor emerges for Bmibaby
Posted: January 23, 2012 Filed under: Airline & Route News, European Aviation News, UK Aviation News, Welsh Aviation News, World Aviation News | Tags: bmibaby, Intro Aviation, Suitor, WW Leave a comment
German turnaround specialist Intro Aviation has emerged as an interested party in BMI’s budget airline Bmibaby.
Chief executive Peter Oncken reportedly said: “We have expressed our interest and the whole procedure is now beginning. The books are being opened and we are looking at the business in detail. We will see if it can be restructured.”
A spokesperson for BMI said: “With respect to Bmibaby there are several interested parties and we are in the process of identifying the preferred buyer and aim to conclude a purchase agreement as soon as possible.”
The group said there had also been significant progress in offloading the regional arm.
“Regarding BMI Regional we have concluded an agreement with a UK-based investor group which is subject to certain pre-conditions which are to be fulfilled,” the spokesman said.
The identity of the buyer for the regional arm remains unclear but it is said to have previous links with the business.
British Airways parent International Airlines Group agreed to acquire loss-making BMI from Lufthansa for £172.5 million in December, subject to the sale of the budget and regional offshoots.
Sourced from Travel Weekly
Wales Air Forum 