- Wet lease arrangement for 3 Sukhoi superjets
- Brussels airlines is phasing out RJ fleet
Brussels Airlines are to wet lease three Sukhoi SSJ100 Superjets operated by Cityjet from April 17 for two years as replacements for their RJ100 rfleet.
The Swords based airline will fly the services with their own crews, and meet Brussels Airlines’ cabin service standards. Routes have yet to be decided.
Two years ago Brussels Airlines decided to phase out regional aircraft to focus on Airbus A320-family single-aisle aircraft for medium-haul and A330s for long-haul routes. Some of the RJ services will be taken over by A319 and A320s.
CityJet has 15 100-seater Sukhoi on order for use on services for other operators as well as charters such as this summers Sunway services to Italy. The Sukhoi has not been cleared for use at London City airport.
Cityjet disposed of four Avro RJ100 regional jets last year, with the remaining eight scheduled to leave the fleet by November 2017. Like Cityjet, Brussels Airlines is phasing out its fleet of Avro RJs.
Brussels Airlines already wet leases Flybe Bombardier Q400s and bmi Regional Embraer E145s on an ACMI basis. Brussels Airlines and bmi Regional also have a codeshare arrangement.
Geert Sciot of Bussels Airlines said Cityjet won the contract because of their previous experience of operating aircraft in the 100-seat category. He said it was not a price-driven decision.”We went onto the market a few months ago for a 100-seater replacement for the RJ100s. Several regional operators showed interest but, at the end of the day,
