Irish carrier CityJet is planning to add up to seven Bombardier CRJ900s on lease from part-owner Falko as part of a US$100 million deal to further expand its wet leasing operations.
Two of the aircraft will be used as part of CityJet’s current ACMI operations for Scandinavian Airlines, with the other five to help it further expand its wet leasing business on European regional routes.
Founder and executive chairman, Pat Byrne, said in an interview in the Irish Sunday Independent newspaper that the carrier was also “in ongoing talks” with a number of major European carriers about operating a similar service. The wet lease market was a key part of his business proposition when he bought the airline in 2016 from Germany’s Intro Aviation, having originally founded it in 2000 before selling it to Air France. Last year CityJet purchased SAS subsidiary Cimber.
“We are talking to airlines all the time,” he said. “This whole concept of the big legacy carriers wet leasing their regional routes is becoming a reality.”
Dublin-based CityJet recently won a second contract with Air France, operating a number of Bombardier aircraft on behalf of the French airline’s Paris Orly-based subsidiary Hop.
