CityJet вернулся его основателю.
CityJet founder back at the controls and aiming high with €1bn order for planes
Almost 25 years after founding CityJet, Pat Byrne is back in the hot seat and aiming high for the airline that was near collapse in 2014, writes John Mulligan
http://www.independent.ie/business/...-high-with-1bn-order-for-planes-34567273.html
CityJet has ordered up to 31 Sukhoi Superjets worth over €1bn (three will be delivered this year), and up to 14 CRJ900 aircraft from Canada's Bombardier for its new wet lease contract with Scandinavian airline SAS (that contract is worth €55m of revenue in a full year to CityJet).
CityJet is buying the Bombardier aircraft directly. It will lease the Superjets directly from a subsidiary of the Russian manufacturer.
CityJet will take delivery of the first Superjet within weeks, and will be the first European operator of the aircraft.
And CityJet has also had to put skin in the game. To fund the first eight Bombardier aircraft, it secured loans totalling $48m (€43m) and its CityJet's biggest lender is now Export Development Canada, the county's State-owned export credit agency. The first of those CRJ900s was delivered to CityJet this week.
CityJet bought the Finland-based SAS subsidiary Blue1 last year and will fly all of SAS's short-haul services in Scandinavia under a so-called wet lease agreement, where CityJet provides the aircraft and crew for the operation.
Those wet leasing operations are more profitable by a factor of four to the airline than its own scheduled services, according to Byrne, who adds he heard of the SAS contract in July last year and had won it by September, beating 10 other bidders.
"I know we've a lot of detractors out there, but by Jesus can we move fast," he says.
Eventually, Byrne wants about 60pc of CityJet's activity to be based around wet leasing (and accounting for about half its profits), with the newly ordered jets playing a pivotal role in being able to develop that business.
He's talking to Air France-KLM about providing a service there, and also engaged with other carriers over possible deals. But CityJet's own scheduled activities will continue, he points out, serving as a "shop window" for the airline and potential clients.
Byrne thinks there's a significant opportunity to exploit wet leasing opportunities he says will emerge as carriers such as Alitalia and Lufthansa ponder the future of their short-haul services.
CityJet founder back at the controls and aiming high with €1bn order for planes
Almost 25 years after founding CityJet, Pat Byrne is back in the hot seat and aiming high for the airline that was near collapse in 2014, writes John Mulligan
http://www.independent.ie/business/...-high-with-1bn-order-for-planes-34567273.html
CityJet has ordered up to 31 Sukhoi Superjets worth over €1bn (three will be delivered this year), and up to 14 CRJ900 aircraft from Canada's Bombardier for its new wet lease contract with Scandinavian airline SAS (that contract is worth €55m of revenue in a full year to CityJet).
CityJet is buying the Bombardier aircraft directly. It will lease the Superjets directly from a subsidiary of the Russian manufacturer.
CityJet will take delivery of the first Superjet within weeks, and will be the first European operator of the aircraft.
And CityJet has also had to put skin in the game. To fund the first eight Bombardier aircraft, it secured loans totalling $48m (€43m) and its CityJet's biggest lender is now Export Development Canada, the county's State-owned export credit agency. The first of those CRJ900s was delivered to CityJet this week.
CityJet bought the Finland-based SAS subsidiary Blue1 last year and will fly all of SAS's short-haul services in Scandinavia under a so-called wet lease agreement, where CityJet provides the aircraft and crew for the operation.
Those wet leasing operations are more profitable by a factor of four to the airline than its own scheduled services, according to Byrne, who adds he heard of the SAS contract in July last year and had won it by September, beating 10 other bidders.
"I know we've a lot of detractors out there, but by Jesus can we move fast," he says.
Eventually, Byrne wants about 60pc of CityJet's activity to be based around wet leasing (and accounting for about half its profits), with the newly ordered jets playing a pivotal role in being able to develop that business.
He's talking to Air France-KLM about providing a service there, and also engaged with other carriers over possible deals. But CityJet's own scheduled activities will continue, he points out, serving as a "shop window" for the airline and potential clients.
Byrne thinks there's a significant opportunity to exploit wet leasing opportunities he says will emerge as carriers such as Alitalia and Lufthansa ponder the future of their short-haul services.