New flights to France from London City
CityJet has announced it is to launch two new services to France from London City hot on the heels of its new flight from the Docklands airport to Florence.
The airline will add seasonal flights to Avignon in Provence and Toulon on the Cote d’Azure this summer, bringing the total number of destinations it serves from London City to 16.
Chief executive Christine Ourmieres said: "We had a fantastic experience with our flights to Deauville in Normandy and Brive in the Dordogne, launched last summer, and we believe now is the right time to launch these additional services to France, which we have been considering for some time."
The news will come as a boost to London City, which recently lost some services. CityJet, one of the airport’s biggest airlines, axed its flights to Jersey last summer and SWISS has just announced it is switching its Basel service from the Docklands airport to Heathrow, from where it will operate a joint service with British Midland.
London City, which is extending its departure lounge, was yesterday granted planning approval by the High Court to increase its annual flight movements to 120,000.
CityJet said it had no plans to further expand its network from London City this year. "We are focusing on existing routes, tweaking frequencies and moving aircraft types around to return unprofitable routes to profitability," added Ourmieres. She said the airline, which made a loss in 2009 and 2010, expected to make a profit in 2011.
Its new daily flight to Florence, launched on Wednesday, will provide an alternative to Meridiana’s service from Gatwick.
Typically 60% of UK travel to Florence is leisure, though Ourmieres said there were also strong business links between London and the Tuscan capital, home to many small to medium-sized leather, textile and fashion businesses.
"We are the only airline taking people from the heart of the City to the heart of Tuscany and we are expecting the service to attract a good mix of business and leisure travellers," she added.
One drawback for corporate clients is the lack of a same-day return flight as CityJet’s service leaves the Docklands at 9.25am and returns the following day at 1.15pm. "If this flight does well we would love to add a second daily flight," added Ourmieres.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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