BA Cityflyer, the main airline operating from London City Airport, has said a “laser focus” on improving its service led to increased punctuality and profit for 2023.
The business, which is wholly owned by British Airways, has reported a pre-tax profit of £11.1m for the year, up from £4.3m in 2022.
The figure comes after the carrier reported a pre-tax loss of £31.6m in 2021 and £60.3m in 2020.
Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show its turnover rose from £249.3m to £281.6m in the year.
Its latest figures are still lower than the turnover of £290.6m and pre-tax profit of £27.1m it achieved in 2019, the last full year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
BA Cityflyer’s overall capacity, in terms of the number of seats available, rose by 7.2 per cent compared to 2022, which contributed to the rise in revenue.
The airline added that an average of 73 per cent of its scheduled flights departed within 15 minutes of their expected departure time during the year, up four per cent compared to 2022.
In the year, BA Cityflyer introduced a new service from London City Airport to Milan Linate.
However, flights from London City Airport to Aberdeen, Quimper and Jersey were stopped.
It continued to operate weekend scheduled leisure services from Southampton and Edinburgh alongside weekend charter services from UK regional airports.
During the year, BA Cityflyer increased its headcount from 546 to 610.
BA Cityflyer ‘recognised need for improvement’
A statement signed off by the board said: “In 2023, the company continued the work started in 2022 to build back from the Covid-19 pandemic, with a focus on driving continued improvements in operational performance, resilience and net promoter score.”
BA Cityflyer added: “At times throughout the year, the company experienced disruption to flights due to a combination of factors, many of which were outside the airline’s control.
“These included periods of third-party industrial action across the UK and Europe, airport capacity constraints, airport resourcing, global supply chain issues and significant adverse weather events across the network.
“As a result, colleagues from across the airline recognised a need for improvement and continued to work hard to alleviate the factors within its control by placing a renewed focus on building a more robust operation, with a laser focus on improving punctuality and further investment in its customer experience.
“The airline continued to work closely with its partners and suppliers across the aviation ecosystem to ensure contingency measures were put in place to limit disruption and deliver a better service to disrupted customers.”