Will someone tell me how these prices are justified? There might be options for regular travel, but for a 35-minute flight it is ridiculous. It is fairly obvious why the flights I was on were not even half full.
Response from Rob Veron, chief executive of Blue Islands:
THANK you for the opportunity to respond to your reader’s letter. Firstly, we would like to extend our condolences to your reader.
Without further information it is difficult to offer a full comment, but based on what we have received, Blue Islands’ 20% sale in June was for Jersey to Bristol and Jersey to London City services only.
Airlines are expensive businesses to run, with many fixed costs, such as aircraft deprecation, salaries, insurance, along with variable costs including maintenance, airport fees, taxes, ground handling and fuel. There is no direct correlation between distance flown and cost to operate.
Blue Islands operates three Jersey to Southampton flights a day, with fares starting at £29.99 one way. Ticket prices rise during times of peak demand and usually the later you book, the higher the price you will pay.
We fully understand your reader was not able to book far in advance in these circumstances, but that is the best way to secure our lowest fares. Blue Islands is committed to offering high-frequency, year-round services between the Channel Islands and the UK, which can only happen with a sustainable fare structure in place.
Incidentally, the independent research we have seen indicates that air fares are actually not much different from what they were 30 years ago, the inflation adjusted price for a 1984 return Southampton to Guernsey ticket would be £202 in 2017.
