Spanish airline Binter revealed as ERA Airline of the Year

• CityJet awarded Silver for transitioning from Air France ownership into a successful independent airline.
• Flybe, which returned to profitability while going through a radical restructuring process, awarded Bronze.

The European Regions Airline Association (ERA*) hosted its annual awards ceremony on 12 October at the ERA General Assembly, taking place this year in Madrid. At the ceremony, Gran Canaria-based airline Binter was declared the winner of the prestigious ERA Airline of the Year award, sponsored by ATR.

The independent judging panel, comprising senior industry experts, including past CEOs of European airlines, highly respected aviation journalists and academics, commended the airline for its constant growth and expansion into new markets such as Cape Verde. The airline, which maintained solid profitability in 2015 despite the harsh economic conditions in the Spanish market, operates inter-island services within the Canary Islands and also flies to Morocco, Portugal and Western Sahara in challenging weather conditions.

Binter President Pedro Agustin del Castillo said:

All of us who form part of Binter, employees and shareholders, are extremely proud to have received the ERA Airline of the Year award, Europe’s most important accolade for a regional airline. This award recognises Binter’s management and underlines to its customers the airline’s soundness. The ERA has acknowledged our work on several occasions, which is important for us because it implies this is not a one-off achievement, but rather recognition of our continuing endeavour over time and the daily efforts of all the people working at Binter to provide the best regional transport service.

Dublin-based airline CityJet received the Silver award. Pat Byrne, Executive Chairman of CityJet commented:

Receiving this accolade from our peers among European regional airlines is a great honour. I have accepted this on behalf of all 850 members of the CityJet team, as it is a great testimonial for the huge effort that has been made in transforming CityJet into a vibrant and growing aviation business. Our focus on customers, be they a commuter on one of our many routes or an airline to whom we wet lease aircraft, sets CityJet apart. We are genuinely proud to be recognised by this award”

Saad Hammad, Flybe CEO, commented on receiving the Bronze award:

As Europe’s largest regional airline, we are honoured to receive ERA’s Bronze Airline Award. It is welcome recognition of the successes Flybe has achieved over the past three years, having returned to profitability with top-line growth, a competitive cost base, a re-energised organisation and a strong balance sheet. It is also testament to Flybe’s great purpose which is to provide regional communities with time-saving access to the outside world not just within the UK and Europe but also through our long-haul codeshare partners across the whole globe.

Madrid, Spain, 13 October 2016