Little Things

While Britishairline BMI is planning to trim its Dublin-to-London Heathrow schedule, Swords-based CityJet is planning to add to its frequency between the two cities.

Cityjet is adding an early morning flight to its daily service from Dublin to London City Airport and now flies seven times a day between the airports.

The Irish airline, a subsidiary of Air France KLM headed by chief executive Geoffrey OByrne White (right), tells me that passenger numbers on the route increased by 23 per cent during the last three months of 2009

Cityjet carried almost 150,000 passengers from Dublin to London City Airport in this period, a year-on-year rise of 28,000.

XL Capital, the global insurer that is planning to redomicile to Ireland from the Cayman Islands this year, currently employs 40 staff here.

Accounts for XL Re Europe Ltd filed with the companies office here show that it has just two employees in Dublin but the bulk of the Irish staff are employed by a company called XL Services UK Ltd - Irish Branch.

New York-listed XL has been in Dublin since 1990, becoming one of the first global insurers to base itself in the IFSC.

It is involved in insurance and reinsurance and its Irish entities focus on international markets. It is not clear if XL’s decision to domicile here will add jobs to its existing operation in Ireland.