CityJet

When a CRJ900 in SAS colors comes over the threshold in Copenhagen, the flight is often operated by an airline whose name you can hardly find on the aircraft: CityJet. The Irish company has an eventful history behind it – from the Virgin franchise at London City through the Air France years with BAe 146s and Avro RJ85s to a pure wet-lease specialist. Here you learn how to reliably identify CityJet today and what became of the old fleet.

CityJet at a glance

CityJet is an Irish regional airline based at Dublin Airport. It trades as CityJet Designated Activity Company (DAC). According to its own account, it was founded by the entrepreneur Pat Byrne in 1993, and in January 1994 the first flight went from Dublin to London City Airport – at that time a still young city airport in the Docklands.

Today CityJet no longer flies any routes of its own. Since October 2018 the airline has been a pure ACMI provider: it supplies the aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance. The customer decides when and where to fly, sells the tickets and pays for fuel and fees. According to CityJet, that customer is now just one: SAS Scandinavian Airlines.

Operationally, the center of gravity has thus moved far from Ireland. The aircraft are based in Copenhagen and Stockholm, and line maintenance is housed in Hangar 3 at Copenhagen Airport. Dublin retains the operations center, the airworthiness organization and the administration, and crew planning takes place in Luton, England.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code WX: appeared in the flight numbers of CityJet’s scheduled flights until October 2018. Today you practically no longer see it.
• ICAO code BCY: the airline’s operator designator. The former company name was Business City Direct.
• Callsign CITY-IRELAND: this is how CityJet identifies itself on the radio when flying under its own code.

In everyday operations the flights run under the customer’s flight number, that is, with SK for SAS. In booking and in the schedule, CityJet is usually named as the operating airline. Which identifier a flight tracker shows depends on the flight plan and the service – so do not rely on the callsign alone. What is behind such arrangements is explained in the article Wet lease explained.

The history of CityJet

Hardly any European regional airline has changed owner and business model so often. The most important milestones at a glance:

Period	Milestone	What it meant for the fleet
1993/1994	Founded by Pat Byrne, start as Virgin CityJet Dublin–London City	Small fleet of BAe 146s
1996	End of the Virgin franchise, partnership with Air France	Still BAe 146s, later Saab 2000s for a time
1999/2000	Financial crisis, Air France comes in; from 2000 fully part of the Air France group	Expansion at London City, flights to Paris CDG
from December 2006	Replacement of the BAe 146s	Avro RJ85s, taken over from the US airline Mesaba
2009/2010	Integration of Belgian VLM	Fokker 50s in CityJet colors
2014	Sale to Intro Aviation, VLM becomes independent again	RJ85 remains the workhorse
2015/2016	Consortium around founder Pat Byrne takes over, purchase of Blue1, new livery	Wet lease for SAS begins, CRJ900 order, Superjet 100 arrives
2017	Takeover of Danish Cimber from SAS	CRJ900 fleet for SAS grows
October 2018	End of own scheduled flights	Only wet lease for customers
2019	Superjet 100 leaves the fleet	CRJ900s also for Brussels Airlines
2020	Court-supervised restructuring (examinership) in Ireland, completed in August	Smaller fleet, Aer Lingus contract ends
2023	Merger with Air Nostrum into the SARA group	First CRJ1000s
October 31, 2025	New owner CityJet Holding ApS	Focus on SAS and the CRJ900

The beginnings at London City

The starting point explains the name: CityJet was tailored to London City from the start. The airport in the Docklands has a short runway and a steep approach, and large jets cannot get there. The four-engine BAe 146 was one of the few jet types that coped well with these conditions – and thus made for an airline that wanted to bring business travelers from Dublin directly into London’s financial district. You can learn more about the airport on the page for London City Airport.

In its first years CityJet flew under the brand Virgin CityJet, that is, in a franchise with Virgin Atlantic. As early as 1995, Brussels was added as a second destination from Dublin. In 1996 CityJet ended the franchise, then appeared under its own name and entered a partnership with Air France.

The Air France years

After financial trouble in the late 1990s, Air France came in and took over the airline completely in 2000. CityJet thus became the regional building block of the later Air France-KLM group. During this time its presence at London City grew, and connections to Paris were added.

From the end of 2006, CityJet replaced the BAe 146s with used Avro RJ85s from the US airline Mesaba; the replacement was completed by 2007. Later Air France-KLM also brought the Belgian VLM Airlines under the CityJet umbrella; its Fokker 50s wore CityJet colors from 2010. In 2014 Air France-KLM sold CityJet to the German investor Intro Aviation.

The founder’s return and the shift to wet lease

Shortly afterward, a consortium around founder Pat Byrne took over the airline again. A revised livery followed, the purchase of the Finnish Blue1 from SAS and a large wet-lease contract: from 2016 CityJet flew regional jets with around 90 seats for SAS. For this the airline ordered new CRJ900s, and in 2017 the Danish Cimber was added, which also operated CRJ900s for SAS.

In parallel, CityJet tested the Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 – first in its own network, from 2017 on a wet lease for Brussels Airlines. In 2019 CityJet withdrew the Superjets from service because of insufficient reliability and replaced them with CRJ900s.

In October 2018 the last scheduled flights under its own brand ended. According to CityJet, the airline employed more than 1,250 people in 2019 and deployed 30 aircraft for partners across Europe. Its customers in this phase also included Aer Lingus, for which CityJet operated Avro RJ85s from the end of October 2018, mainly between Dublin and London City, and later Lufthansa.

Crisis, SARA and a new owner

The coronavirus pandemic hit the wet-lease business hard. In 2020 CityJet went through a court-supervised restructuring (examinership) in Ireland and emerged restructured in August 2020. In 2023 CityJet joined forces with the Spanish Air Nostrum to form the Strategic Alliance of Regional Airlines (SARA). The first CRJ1000s arrived in 2023 and initially flew for Lufthansa; in summer 2024 Lufthansa used five CityJet CRJ1000s on a wet lease.

Since October 31, 2025, CityJet has belonged to the Danish CityJet Holding ApS. According to the airline, the focus since then has been on stability and the long-term SAS contract.

The fleet today: CRJ900s for SAS

Today’s fleet is manageable and uniform. CityJet describes itself as an operator of CRJ regional jets and is switching to an all-CRJ900 fleet.

Type	Seats	Status (as of 2026)	Spotter note
Bombardier CRJ900	88 or 90	Core fleet, wet-leased to SAS	SAS livery, Irish registration
Bombardier CRJ1000	100	phasing out	Stretched version, used for Lufthansa among others in 2024

According to CityJet, both types have two General Electric CF34-8C5 engines. The CRJ900 is around 36 meters long, the CRJ1000 a good 39 meters. The manufacturer of the family was Bombardier; the CRJ program later passed to Mitsubishi.

Exactly how many aircraft are active changes with the contracts. Public fleet lists in summer 2025 gave around 16 CRJ900s and five CRJ1000s. Take the number as an order of magnitude, not a fixed figure.

CRJ900 or CRJ1000?

The difference in length is hard to estimate as the aircraft flies past. If in doubt, count the windows or compare the fuselage section ahead of the wing: on the CRJ1000 the forward fuselage looks visibly more stretched. How to tell CRJs, Embraer E-Jets and other regional jets apart is shown in the guide Recognizing regional jets.

The historic fleet: BAe 146 and Avro RJ85

For many spotters, CityJet is inseparably linked to the four-engine jets from British Aerospace. They are history at CityJet but omnipresent in photos from London City, Dublin and Paris.

• BAe 146: CityJet started with this family. Four engines under a high-mounted wing, a T-tail and short takeoff and landing distances made it the ideal type for London City. More on the page for the BAe 146-200.
• Avro RJ85: The modernized development of the 146 with newer engines and a glass cockpit. From the end of 2006 it replaced the older 146s at CityJet and remained the backbone at London City for over a decade. You can find details at the Avro RJ85.
• Saab 2000: Fast turboprop that, according to CityJet, belonged to the fleet in the late 1990s. The Dornier 328 also flew for CityJet at times.
• Fokker 50: In service in CityJet colors via VLM from 2010, gone again with the separation from VLM in 2014.
• Sukhoi Superjet 100: In service from 2016 to 2019, most recently for Brussels Airlines.

How to recognize CityJet

Today CityJet is an example of how invisible a wet-lease operator can be. The CRJ900s wear the livery of SAS, not that of CityJet. If you look only at the tail, you quickly note “SAS” – and get the operator wrong.

The reliable features:

Why so many aircraft in Europe wear an Irish registration even though they fly for airlines from other countries is explained in the article Offshore registrations and leasing. At CityJet, though, the reason is simple: the airline itself is Irish.

Spotting CityJet: Copenhagen and Stockholm

Because the fleet flies for SAS, you find CityJet where SAS serves its regional network. The bases are in Copenhagen and Stockholm Arlanda.

• Copenhagen Kastrup: Maintenance and a large part of the staff are located here. A popular place to take photos is the Flyvergrillen at Copenhagen Airport. You can find everything important about the airport on the page for Copenhagen Airport.
• Stockholm Arlanda: The second base, where the CRJ900s stay overnight and depart in the morning for the first rotations. More about the airport on the page for Stockholm Arlanda; you can find photo locations at the spotting places in Arlanda.
• Germany: In the SAS network, regional jets also come to German airports. Which aircraft and which partner is used changes with the schedule, though.

Common mix-ups

• Automatically logging an SAS CRJ as SAS – the CRJ900 with an EI- registration is flown by CityJet, not by SAS itself.
• Confusing CityJet with Emerald Airlines – Emerald now flies the regional routes for Aer Lingus; CityJet flew for Aer Lingus only with Avro RJ85s from the end of 2018 to 2020, mainly from London City. More on Emerald on the page Emerald Airlines.
• Searching for WX flight numbers – they have not existed since October 2018.
• Equating the BAe 146 and Avro RJ85 – the RJ85 is the modernized development; at CityJet it came from the end of 2006.
• Taking the CRJ1000 for the CRJ900 – the longer fuselage and 100 instead of around 90 seats make the difference.
• Taking CityJet for an Air France subsidiary – it was one from 2000 to 2014, no longer today.

Conclusion

CityJet has reinvented itself several times: from the Virgin franchise at London City through the Air France years with BAe 146s and Avro RJ85s to a quiet service provider for SAS. For spotters that means: the great era of its own livery is over, but CityJet remains exciting. If you watch for the Irish registration in Copenhagen or Stockholm, you recognize the airline even in foreign colors – and if you sort old photos, you find in CityJet’s history a piece of European regional aviation.