Ireland’s European regional airline, CityJet, is to introduce an up to three times daily link between Cork Airport and London City Airport from October 1, 2015. The airline, which has its headquarters in Swords, near Dublin, said it saw significant potential in Cork and the greater Munster region for flights directly into the heart of the city of London and sees strong potential for both business and leisure travel.
CityJet will offer 18 flights a week on the route with three rotations every weekday, one flight on Saturdays and two every Sunday from October 1, 2015. It will be the only link between Cork and the Docklands airport and will complement the flights of Aer Lingus to Heathrow and Ryanair to Gatwick and Stansted, in the UK capital.
“We are very excited about this expansion of our route network. We believe the Cork to London City route has significant potential and indications are, as we launch a major marketing and promotional drive, that there are many travellers, both business and leisure, that want to enjoy the fast access and hassle-free experience that London City Airport offers,” said Pat Byrne, executive chairman, CityJet.
The regional carrier has a lot of experience of serving the London City market, which offers easy access to London’s financial district and the West End and other great visitor landmarks. “Our experience in operating into and out of London City Airport is that any passengers who try it remain on the route,” added Byrne.
CityJet has seen significant growth in its traffic in recent months as it has embarked on a major marketing drive and offers a wide range of fares to suit both business and leisure customers. Last month, CityJet announced a 50 per cent increase in passenger numbers in May 2015 (versus May 2014) on its Dublin to London City route.
The airline hopes to work with the business community in Cork and the greater Munster region to maintain strong yields on the city pair. Cork is home of many major multinationals and has become a location of choice for pharma, healthcare, ICT and biotechnology companies.
“Cork and its economy continues to thrive and grow. We want to partner that growth by delivering flights into the heart of London’s financial district and provide our unrivalled service for business and leisure travellers alike,” said Byrne.
Around eight hundred thousand passengers from the Munster region already travel on flights to/from London each year, making it the most popular destination from Cork Airport. Niall MacCarthy, managing director, Cork Airport, said good schedules and the convenience of both airports will make the service very attractive to potential passengers, adding competition and choice to the market and further stimulating demand.
“London has always been a popular destination and we believe that the new CityJet service will thrive over the coming months. We believe that there is also great potential for the inbound tourism product particularly inbound golf, conference and similar business,” he said.
Our analysis of Sabre Airport Data Intelligence demand statistics highlights annual demand from Cork to London over the past ten years by terminating airport in the UK capital. This shows that demand grew 9.6 per cent last year, but the annual total is still short of the numbers being generated during the 2000s.
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