Belgian start-up City Bird is looking at plans for low-cost European services out of the regional airport of Liege as an alternative to its crowded Brussels base.
This comes as chief executive Victor Hasson, who founded City Bird three years ago, is moving the carrier away from its original focus on low-cost scheduled transatlantic operations. Instead the efforts are being concentrated on more lucrative parts of the business, including charter, cargo and third party operations on behalf of other airlines.
Hasson is also looking at low-cost operations from Liege, which could attract customers from across the border in Germany. Plans have not been firmed up but short-haul services are a possibility, using Boeing 737s on order. Hasson has had experience in low-cost European markets. He founded the carrier which went on to become Virgin Express.
Another plan is to start luxury business services to New York from Brussels with 40-50-seat aircraft. Hasson expects suitable aircraft to be available soon, such as the long-range 737-7ERX being studied by Boeing.
Meanwhile, the refocussing away from scheduled operations appears to be paying off. City Bird moved into the black for the first time last year, showing operating profits of BFr79 million ($1.9 million) compared with a loss of BFr474 million in 1998.
A 45% cut in available scheduled seats last year saw the airline drop routes to California and Mexico, although the more profitable Florida services to Miami and Orlando remain. As a result, scheduled sales were down, but only 26%despite the near halving of seat capacity. Total group revenues grew 44%to more than BFr6 billion, as other parts of the business made up for the decline.
Third party operating revenue more than doubled and now makes up close to half the business. City Bird operates aircraft on behalf of carriers such as Sabena, Luxair, Martinair, Condor, AOM and Intertropical aviation. The 14% increase in charter flight revenue helped by business from NUR Touristic Benelux, Belgium's largest tour operator. City Bird also started full cargo operation last year with two Airbus A300-600Fs, mainly on behalf of Cargolux and Israeli carrier Cargo Airlines.
The airline still has an interline agreement with Sabena's European network, giving it access to 58 destinations. However, the relationship between the two carriers has been rocky of late.
Sabena has sold its 11.2% stake in the start-up and the two have clashed over a wet-lease agreement that City Bird struck with Congolese carrier Lignes Aeriennes Congolaises on the Brussels-Kinshasa route. That competed with Sabena's own flights. At a recent hearing, an arbitration tribunal ruled that as City Bird wet-leases two aircraft to Sabena, it should have been informed of the agreement.
| City Bird fleet | 737 | MD-11/767 | A300-600F* |
| 1997 | - | 1 | - |
| 1998 | - | 5 | - |
| 1999 | - | 5 | 2 |
| 2000 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| 2001 | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| *configured for cargo | |||
Source: Airline Business
