German airline turnaround specialist, INTRO Aviation, has completed the sale of its CityJet (WX, Dublin International) unit to founder and current chairman Pat Byrne and a group of investors.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Byrne said the agreement was signed last week. He did not identify who his partners are stating only that they are "European experts in aviation finance". Following the sale, Byrne added that CityJet was considering going public in the next two to three years given positive growth and cashflow projections going forward.
Intro Aviation acquired the regional European carrier and its then sister carrier VLM (1992) (Antwerp) from Air France (AF, Paris CDG) in May 2014.
According to Byrne, aside from its scheduled regional operations, CityJet will focus on expanding its ACMI operations. The carrier recently took delivery of its first of eight CRJ900s on order from Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) following the arrival of EI-FPA (cn 15398) at Helsinki Vantaa late last week. The aircraft will be wet-leased out to SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) for use on flights throughout Scandinavia as well as to continental Europe beginning March 27.
CityJet is also expected to add its first of fifteen SSJ 100/95s later on in May. As previously reported, the twinjet will be used on ACMI/charter operations while its London City certification is completed.
