CityJet pushes key message of customer service

ONE MORE THING:IRISH AIRLINE CityJet has decided to promote its customer service over the price of fares in a new £1 million marketing campaign that will debut next week, mostly in Ireland and Britain.

The campaign will largely comprise outdoor and print media over a five-week period but will also include two weeks of advertisements on TV3 at the end of October.

Its tag is: “CityJet. Now You’re Flying.”

“We want to get away from network pricing and maximise our personality to show that we deliver excellent service,” CityJet’s chief commercial officer André Cini told me this week. “I’m selling the customer experience.”

Ryanair and Aer Lingus might scoff and argue that they offer better value on competing flights. And pricing is a key issue for customers in the recession.

Cini’s response is that CityJet doesn’t charge for luggage, for booking seats or for onboard refreshments. He also argues that you can get a flight from Dublin to London City Airport for as little as €59 if you book ahead.

Cini said CityJet, which is owned by Air France KLM, is “on the way” to breaking even this year. “This is a great achievement,” he said.

Operationally, its Dublin to Pau route, which launched in May, has proved difficult for the airline. Cini said this was the result of the short time it had to market the route in advance of its launch.

“The first two months were very bad but the summer was much better. I’m sure it can be a success.”

The route won’t operate during the winter months but Cini hopes it will return next April.