Cityjet makes €17.6m profit

CITYJET, the Irish-based subsidiary of Air France-KLM, made pre-tax profits of €17.6 million last year.

The figure is €10m higher than the airline generated in the previous financial year.

Accounts for Cityjet, which have just been filed at the Companies Registration Office, show turnover in the year to end March 2005 increased from €171m to €214m.

A breakdown of the Cityjet's turnover by region, show revenues from flights out of Ireland increased by €5.9m to €26.9m. Around €28m in turnover came from its British operations, with the rest coming from mainland Europe.

The airline, which operates flights to Britain, France Spain, Italy and Sweden, said it added one new route to its network during the year - Birmingham to Paris.

"It is our belief that the company is now well-placed to take advantage of growth opportunities and can look to the future with renewed optimism," the company said.

As no dividend was paid to Air France-KLM, retained profits at the year end surged from €5m to €20.2m.

The number of people employed by Cityjet increased by 66 during the year, bringing the total workforce to 489.

Meanwhile, Ryanair said yesterday that it had carried 2.83 million people in December, 33% more than in the December 2004.

In the 12 months to end December 2005, the airline flew some 33.3 million people across Europe, making it the largest schedule carrier on the continent.

Ryanair's load factor - the percentage of seats per flight it fills - slipped from 83% to 82% in the month.

And British Airway, run by former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh, said its passenger traffic in December fell 0.2% to 2.72 million people.

BA said in a statement to the stock exchange that its load factor rose to 74.2% from 72.7%.