LOGANAIR has abandoned its two licence applications to operate inter-island air routes after a committee of Guernsey politicians opted to provisionally decline both.
The airline said that it was “disappointed not to be able to serve the Guernsey community”.
Guernsey’s Transport Licensing Authority issues air transport licences for designated essential routes to and from Guernsey, which includes Gatwick, Alderney and Southampton – with Jersey to become an essential route from 15 January.
The Authority, which is chaired by Deputy John Gollop, confirmed last month that it had received three applications following the collapse of Blue Islands.
One of the applications was from Aurigny, to operate a scheduled passenger and cargo service between Guernsey and Jersey – which has been approved. Aurigny is wholly owned by the States of Guernsey.
The other two were from Loganair, for services between Guernsey and Jersey as well as Guernsey and Southampton.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, the Scottish carrier said it had “been notified by the Guernsey Transport Licensing Authority that it has provisionally reached a decision to deny an operating licence for Loganair to operate the Guernsey-Southampton and Guernsey-Jersey routes”.
The JEP understands that Loganair had the right to appeal before a final decision was reached by the TLA, but has withdrawn from the process.
“Loganair has taken the decision to focus on delivering an exemplary, reliable service for Islanders, starting in Jersey,” the statement continued.
“We would like to thank the TLA for considering the application and express appreciation to the many individuals and businesses who contributed to the process, and who offered their support to us.
“We are not surprised at this outcome; however, we remain resolutely of the belief that Loganair should play a part in serving the Channel Islands community beyond our base in Jersey.”
The statement explained that Loganair had subsequently decided to begin cancelling and refunding passengers due to fly between the islands from 15 January.
“We are disappointed not to be able to serve the Guernsey community, with outbound and inbound flight opportunities that are complementary to our extensive network.”
Loganair chief executive Luke Farajallah added: “Our focus is simple: deliver day in, day out aviation solutions for Islanders.
“We’ll show in Jersey what our customer first approach looks like – reliable schedules, clear communication, and care when plans change,” he continued. “If we do our job well, we hope Guernsey will soon enjoy the same standard of service.
“Loganair remains ready to bring its experience, scale, resilience, vast network and codeshare relationships to support the community living in and wishing to visit the beautiful island of Guernsey, and our door remains open for dialogue with the States leadership.”
