The Guernsey-owned airline has applied to the Economic Development Committee for permits to begin operating both routes from Sunday 26 October.
It is hoping to fly once a day to Stansted using its 33-seat Saab 340 and up to four times a week to Bournemouth with a 39-seat Shorts aircraft.
owever, doubts have been raised over whether the Bournemouth route can sustain a second operator.
Le Cocqs Airlink already flies to the south-coast airport and chairman Noel Hayes does not believe that the level of demand is high enough.
e said that Le Cocqs would not object to the licence application but suggested that it might have been made partly as a tit-for-tat measure by Aurigny in response to Le Cocqs’ successful bid to compete on the Jersey to Guernsey inter-island route.
This, though, was denied by Aurigny managing director Malcolm Hart, who said: ‘This is our first significant entry into Jersey’s regional market.
We have already established a network of UK routes from Guernsey, and this is the first step in our long-term plan to offer a similar selection of services from Jersey.
Mr Hart added that with competition now allowed on inter-island routes, the airline would have more seats – and these new services were part of an attempt to fill them.
Launching a service to Stansted is a low-risk way of expanding our network,’ he said.
‘We have been flying to Stansted from Guernsey for almost five years now, so virtually everything is in place.
We are already flying people from Jersey to Stansted via Guernsey, but the Island will now have a direct connection to Europe’s biggest centre for low-cost airlines.
The starting fare between Jersey and Stansted will be £84 return, which includes taxes.
r Hart said that Aurigny had made no secret of its desire to fly to Bournemouth and saw great potential in the area.
The company’s earlier plans to fly between Guernsey and Bournemouth had, he said, been postponed because of the general fall in traffic owing to the Gulf War and the delay in securing a second Shorts aircraft, which had now arrived.
That extra aircraft made this latest route expansion possible.
sked whether he thought that Aurigny’s new service to Bournemouth would have an effect on the Le Cocqs service, Mr Hart said that he could not speak for the competition.
We can only concentrate on what we are doing – which is trying to develop a route which we think has great potential.
As to whether the consumer will want to fly between Jersey and Bournemouth in a ten-seat aircraft .
.
.
well, I have my doubts.
Aurigny’s fares between Jersey and Bournemouth will start at £49 return, including taxes.
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