Currently travel to both islands is heavily restricted, with anyone arriving in Jersey being required to spend ten days in isolation and return three negative tests.
Only those with an essential-travel permit are allowed to enter Guernsey, and must also isolate for a period of time on arrival.
Condor cancelled the fast-ferry Liberation and Rapide sailings last December for the first quarter of 2021 and now intends to restart a schedule on 21 May, provided travel and quarantine controls are relaxed.
Neither Jersey nor Guernsey has yet set out a roadmap for opening up borders, despite cases in the islands and the UK plummeting in recent weeks.
There were ten active cases in Jersey yesterday and 12 in Guernsey. The daily number of new cases in the UK, meanwhile, has dropped far more quickly than was widely expected. Yesterday 6,385 new cases were confirmed – a 29% decrease on the same day last week.
Elwyn Dop, Condor’s operations director, said the company was pressing ahead with plans for the summer.
‘We are absolutely committed to a resumption in passenger services and the recent surge in interest following the British government’s announcement last week has given us cause for optimism.
‘Any restart does, though, require an agreement on border opening and currently there is no certainty when any easing of such controls will be possible.’
Condor’s freight and passenger ferry, Commodore Clipper, will continue to provide a daily service between the islands and Portsmouth and a fortnightly round trip to St Malo. Freight-only sailings remain unchanged.
The company’s reservations teams will contact passengers with existing bookings whose travel may be affected.
It is not yet known when Condor will drop its requirement for all passengers to return a negative PCR test before travelling.
