Tail wind pushes CityJet towards break-even point

ONE MORE THING:WHILE RYANAIR this week upgraded its profit forecast for the current financial year by almost 10 per cent to a stellar €480 million, its Swords-based rival CityJet appears to be edging closer to break-even.

The airline, which was founded by Irish entrepreneur Pat Byrne but is owned by Air France-KLM, has changed its year-end to December to mirror that of its parent company.

Having recorded a loss of €23 million in the 12 months to the end of March 2011, the airline narrowed the deficit to €2 million for the nine months to the end of December, according to preliminary and unaudited figures compiled by the company.

“This is an improvement from accounts filed for 2010/2011 . . . something that we can be proud of as a company and allows us to look positively towards the future,” CityJet chief executive Christine Ourmieres told me this week.

She is hoping that this year will be the one when the airline hits break-even in spite of the difficult economic climate.

Ourmieres also said CityJet would be increasing the frequency of flights from Dublin to London City Airport from March 25th – operating up to six flights a day from the current five. It also plans to resume its seasonal route between Dublin and Pau from May 18th.

CityJet has also signed up as a sponsor of the Irish Paralympics team, which will be taking part in the Paralympic Games in London in August.

London City is the closest airport to the main Olympic venues, making the deal a good fit for the company.

Details of the sponsorship are expected to be announced next week.