Air France-KLM is to increase its influence at London City Airport through the acquisition of regional airline VLM, the airport’s biggest operator.

The deal was announced on Christmas Eve by VLM’s Dutch owner, Jaap Rosen Jacobson. He said: “VLM Airlines is a jewel amongst the regional airlines. It has developed from a small airline into the most important player at London City Airport. I am proud about this development and even more about the exciting opportunities ahead for VLM Airlines under the wings of Air France-KLM.“

Air France-KLM already has substantial operations at the airport through its CityJet subsidiary, with flights to Belfast City, Dublin, Geneva, Madrid, Nice and Zurich. VLM has flights to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Manchester and Rotterdam among others from the airport.

Geoffrey O'Byrne-White, CityJet's chief executive, said: "We see this as a great opportunity to expand and to offer an optimal product to our customers. Both networks are highly complementary and the new combined network will link London City with major European business and financial centres."

This year there has been a fares war at the airport between Air France, British Airways and Swiss.