GEOFFREY O’BYRNE White, the chief executive of Dublin-based airline CityJet, will step down at the end of August. A successor has not yet been appointed and the company’s chairman, Pat Byrne, will act as interim chief executive.
Mr O’Byrne White (55) is not retiring, according to a company spokesman, and has “something in the pipeline” but he was “not in a position” to give further details. Mr White was “moving on” after 10 years at the airline.
Mr O’Byrne White said: “We turned a small Irish airline that started with five aircraft into a serious player in the European airline service for the business community with 45 aircraft and a highly motivated crew looking after over two million passengers a year.”
Mr O’Byrne White started his career as a pilot with the Irish Air Corps and has worked for Parc Aviation and the Irish Aviation Authority. He has been a vocal critical of the €609 million second terminal at Dublin airport, which is due to open in November.
CityJet, which is wholly owned by Air France-KLM, is the largest airline operating from London City airport which employs more than 1,100 people.
The airline serves 15 destinations from London City and seven from Dublin.
CityJet’s most recent annual report recorded an operating loss of €55 million for the year to March 2009 following what the airline described as a sharp fall-off in business passengers.
