BA CityFlyer

A slim regional jet in British Airways colors coming down steeply over the Docklands onto a short runway between two dock basins: that is the typical picture of BA CityFlyer. For passengers, the airline is simply British Airways. For spotters, it is a separate company with its own code, its own fleet and a history that goes back to 1991. This page shows you how to tell CityFlyer from its parent and what lies behind the name.

BA CityFlyer at a glance

BA CityFlyer is the regional subsidiary of British Airways. The company is wholly owned by BA and thus part of the International Airlines Group, which also includes Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus. Its headquarters is in Harmondsworth, right next to Heathrow, but its aircraft are almost all based in east London: at London City Airport, where CityFlyer is by far the most important airline.

The business model is clearly defined. At its core, CityFlyer takes business travelers from the City’s financial district and Canary Wharf quickly to destinations in Great Britain and Europe. Alongside this, the airline has built up a leisure program over the years, with routes to sun and ski destinations that often run only seasonally or on weekends.

All flights are sold by British Airways. The ticket and the departure board therefore show a BA flight number, the aircraft wear the regular BA livery, and the frequent flyer program is British Airways’ as well. What makes CityFlyer a separate airline is its own operating license, its own crews and its own ICAO code.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code CJ: the company’s own code. You rarely see it in everyday life because the flights are sold as BA flights.
• ICAO code CFE: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and thus on flight trackers. It is the most important identifying feature.
• Callsign FLYER: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio, followed by the flight number.

How IATA and ICAO codes work in general is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes; you can find more on unusual radio names under airline callsigns. Codes and callsign are not a 2007 reinvention. Its predecessor CityFlyer Express already used CJ, CFE and FLYER. So when British Airways restarted, it revived not only the name but also the identifiers.

History: from Euroworld to BA CityFlyer

The history of BA CityFlyer is a small piece of British regional aviation with several fresh starts. If you know it, you also understand why the name is older than today’s company.

By the turn of the millennium, CityFlyer Express was already a fairly large regional airline: at the end of 2000, the fleet consisted of 21 aircraft, including 16 Avro RJ100s and five ATR 72s. Before that, ATR 42s had also been in service. BA’s other British regional operations ran from 2002 under the name British Airways CitiExpress, and from 2006 as BA Connect. Its sale to Flybe in 2007 finally prompted the re-founding of CityFlyer.

The new BA CityFlyer began with the ten Avro RJ100s that BA had kept from BA Connect. In summer 2008, two shorter Avro RJ85s were added because the RJ100 could not carry its full payload on some routes in summer. In the same year, the decision was made to switch fleets: eleven Embraer jets, six E170s and five E190s, with options on more E190s. The first E170 arrived in 2009, the first E190 in 2010, and with further orders the Embraer fleet replaced the Avro jets by about 2011.

The fleet: only the Embraer 190

Today the fleet is as simple as at hardly any other airline: there is only one type. The overview shows how it has developed since 2007.

Type	Period	Number	Spotter note
Avro RJ100	2007–approx. 2011	10	Four-engine high-wing, taken over from BA Connect
Avro RJ85	2008–approx. 2011	2	Shorter version of the RJ100
Embraer 170	2009–2021	6	Smallest Embraer in the fleet, without overwing emergency exits
Embraer 190	since 2010	about 20 (as of 2025)	Only type today, about 100 seats

The Embraer 190 is a regional jet a good 36 meters long with two General Electric CF34-10E engines under the wings. In the cabin, passengers sit four abreast, two on the left and two on the right of the aisle. Compared with turboprops like the Dash 8, the jet scores with higher cruising speed – a clear advantage on routes to central and southern Europe.

The smaller Embraer 170 disappeared from the fleet in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic. Since then, only E190s have flown. Whether CityFlyer will switch to the newer Embraer 195-E2 or another type in the medium term is not publicly known for certain – the E2 is, however, now approved for London City.

London City: why the airport determines the fleet

Without London City, BA CityFlyer would not exist in this form. The airport lies in the Royal Docks in the borough of Newham, about ten kilometers east of the City of London, and has been in operation since 1987. It has a single runway (09/27) a good 1,500 meters long, squeezed between former dock basins and densely built-up urban area.

The airport therefore makes special demands. The glide path is at 5.5 degrees – at most airports about 3 degrees is usual. Aircraft must be specially approved for this steep approach, and only multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft up to roughly the size of the Embraer 195-E2, Airbus A220 or A318 may land. An A320 or a Boeing 737 is out of the question at London City. How a normal instrument approach works and why the angle matters is explained in the guide to the ILS approach.

For spotters, the steep approach is the big highlight: the Embraers come down noticeably steeply and touch down shortly after the runway threshold. Add to that the backdrop of water, cranes and the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf – pictures you won’t get at any other London airport.

Routes and bases

The network is split in two. On weekdays, routes for business travelers dominate, such as to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast City, Amsterdam, Dublin, Zurich, Geneva, Milan Linate, Frankfurt or Berlin. On weekends and in vacation periods, leisure destinations are added – according to route overviews (as of 2024), for example Ibiza, Palma, Florence, Nice, Chambéry for the French Alps, Skiathos or Split. Which routes are currently running changes from season to season.

Over the years, CityFlyer has extended the network beyond London City several times:

• Since 2016, the airline has also flown from London Stansted, mainly to leisure destinations.
• From 2017, there were summer flights from Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh, Dublin and Birmingham to Spain, Italy, Greece and France – BA thereby returned to regional British routes after about ten years.
• In 2020, CityFlyer closed its crew base in Edinburgh in the wake of the pandemic.
• From May 2021, CityFlyer served weekend routes from Southampton; in September 2024, the airline announced it would withdraw from there.

In Germany, you see CityFlyer mainly in Frankfurt and Berlin – provided the routes are on the current schedule. A reliable stop outside London is also Edinburgh, where the Embraers show up alongside BA’s mainline Airbus aircraft.

How to recognize BA CityFlyer

Because the livery is identical to British Airways, you have to use other features. The good news: two or three glances make it clear.

The type alone is already a strong indication: British Airways itself mainly uses Airbus on short-haul, and the Embraer 190 in BA colors almost always belongs to CityFlyer. The registration confirms the impression. How British registrations are structured and how to look them up in the G-INFO register is explained in the article on British G- registrations.

In comparison with other regional airlines in Europe, a parallel stands out: KLM Cityhopper and Lufthansa CityLine also fly in their parent’s livery, and at KLM Cityhopper they are Embraers as well. Without a look at the code or registration, these aircraft are easily assigned incorrectly. At London City, you also meet other Embraer operators such as Helvetic Airways, which landed there in 2025 as the first with an E195-E2.

Common mix-ups

• Thinking every BA aircraft is British Airways – at London City it is almost always CityFlyer. The code CFE brings clarity.
• Mixing up the E190 and E170 – the E170 is about six meters shorter and has no overwing emergency exits. At CityFlyer it has not flown since 2021.
• Mixing up the E190 and E195 – the E195 is a good two meters longer. CityFlyer has no E195s. The guide Telling Embraer E-Jets apart shows all the differences in the family.
• Equating CityFlyer with Flybe or BA Connect – BA Connect went to Flybe in 2007, CityFlyer stayed with British Airways.
• Looking for the IATA code CJ on the ticket – it is sold under BA flight numbers.
• Equating CityFlyer Express (1991–2001) and BA CityFlyer (since 2007) – same name and same codes, but two different companies.

Conclusion

BA CityFlyer is a prime example of how a separate airline can hide behind a well-known livery. The company flies in British Airways colors and under BA flight numbers, but has its own codes, an all-Embraer 190 fleet and a home that exists only once: the short city airport in the Docklands with its steep approach. If you note the code CFE and the registration, you can assign every sighting cleanly – and keep the history from Euroworld through CityFlyer Express to today in mind as well.