AN airline has moved to reassure its passengers that a lifeline route to and from Jersey will be unaffected by the closure of a UK hub.

Loganair, the Scottish airline which swiftly replaced Blue Islands after it went into liquidation last November, opened a Southampton base in January, with plans to reach full operational capacity by March. Loganair also planned to station two aircraft at the airport.

But just eight months on, the airline has confirmed it is closing the hub in October, with some routes being axed.

However, the route from Jersey to Southampton, which is relied on frequently to transport Islanders to medical appointments and surgeries at Southampton Hospital, will not be affected, according to Loganair.

Routes between Southampton to Manchester and Manchester to Exeter will be cancelled, with the last flight from Southampton to Manchester being on 20 August.

Blue Islands formerly provided the Jersey-Southampton flights alongside options to travel to Norwich, East Midlands, Exeter and Guernsey. These routes were taken on between Aurigny and Loganair after Blue Islands collapsed.

Southampton was the airline’s tenth base at the time of its opening in January and was aimed to increase “operational flexibility” alongside providing more services to and from the south coast of England.

Loganair had previously bid to run lifeline routes to and from Guernsey – including inter-island flights and the Guernsey-Southamton route – but this was rejected by a panel of Guernsey politicians earlier this year.

Guernsey’s Transport Licensing Authority issues air transport licences for designated essential routes to and from Guernsey, which include Gatwick, Alderney, Jersey and Southampton. The TLA rejected Loganair’s bids but approved a bid from Aurigny, which is wholly owned by the States of Guernsey.

A spokesperson for Ports of Jersey said: “All scheduled flights between Jersey and Southampton will continue to operate as normal and passengers can continue to book with confidence.

“There will be no impact on Loganair’s Jersey services following the announcement of Loganair’s plans to close its Southampton crew base”.