CityJet orders 10 new planes as it takes over a Danish airline
The Dublin-based carrier is buying a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines.
DUBLIN-BASED AIRLINE CITYJET has announced plans to order 10 new planes as it closed a deal to acquire a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines.
The Irish firm announced today that it has acquired Cimber A/S, which is part of the SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) group, one of the largest airlines in Europe.
In doing so, CityJet has won a major, six-year wet lease contract from SAS to operate regional services from Copenhagen in Denmark.
CityJet’s current wet lease contract with SAS, under which it operates eight jets based in Stockholm and Helsinki, will increase from three years to six years, and the Irish airline has also placed an order for up to 10 new Bombardier CRJ900 jets.
Wet leasing is when an airline, in this case CityJet, provides the aircraft and crew to another carrier. The company providing the aircraft is also responsible for maintenance and costs like insurance.
CityJet said that the new jets it ordered will be used “in wet lease production for SAS and to replace the current Cimber aircraft during 2017 and 2018″. Cimber operates services on behalf of SAS to more than 30 European destinations.
CityJet strategy
With the addition of the Cimber aircrafts, CityJet’s fleet of CRJ900 jets will increase to 23 this summer. The Dublin firm said that the CRJ900 fleet will be “operated exclusively on behalf of SAS, with all aircraft in SAS colours and crewed by CityJet staff”.
CityJet first won a contract to operate short-haul flights for SAS when it bought SAS subsidiary Blue1 in 2015.
CityJet executive chairman Pat Byrne said that the new contract “advances CityJet’s stated strategy of building its role as a provider of regional jet capacity to airlines across Europe”.
“We welcome the new staff members of Cimber Airways into CityJet, joining the 870 current employees, which already include almost 200 based in the Nordic region.”
CityJet executive chairman Pat Byrne
Lower costs
SAS president and CEO Rickard Gustafson said that the sale of Cimber will allow the Norwegian carrier “to fly more routes and maintain a large network with frequent departures”.
“Thanks to the synergies between CityJet and Cimber, we expect to lower the costs of production,” he added.
The deal marks a positive start to the year for CityJet after its planned takeover of Stobart Air also fell apart at the eleventh hour in December.
Pat Byrne recently told Fora that winning more wet lease contracts is crucial to the airline’s growth plans.
“We think that within two years we will be the largest regional wet provider in Europe, and we will probably be the number-two regional sized airline in Europe, just behind (UK-based airline) Flybe,” he said in November.
