DECISIONS taken by a panel of Guernsey politicians over the running of lifeline air links are a further blow to already-fragmented inter-island connectivity, a Jersey politician has said, as he accused the two governments of failing to work in the best interests of islanders.
Deputy Montfort Tadier, who chairs the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel, said he was “concerned” that the Jersey and Guernsey governments did not appear to be working well together.
It comes after Guernsey’s Transport Licensing Authority provisionally turned down two applications from Loganair to run lifeline flights to and from Guernsey – including the Jersey route.
The TLA has approved an application from Aurigny, which is wholly owned by the States of Guernsey, to operate an inter-island passenger and cargo service.
Loganair would have had an opportunity to respond before a final decision was reached, but instead chose to withdraw from the process – stating that it will “focus on delivering an exemplary, reliable service for islanders, starting in Jersey”.
Guernsey Deputy John Gollop, who chairs the TLA, said that “on this occasion, evidence suggested strong competition on these routes would likely lead to it being unviable for all operators in the longer term”.
Loganair said that it was “disappointed not to be able to serve the Guernsey community” but “remains open for dialogue”.
The decision threatens to cause a further rift between the two islands on the issue of transport links, which had already been damaged by the fallout from the ferry tender process last year.
Deputy Tadier said he has “real concerns that we are seeing an increased fragmentation of inter-island connectivity”.
“It was clear to me and many others that Loganair would never be granted a licence to operate the routes between Guernsey and Jersey and Guernsey and Southampton,” he continued.
“The immediate question, is how this will affect the financial viability of Loganair’s operations to and from Jersey, given that these other potentially lucrative routes are no longer an option.”
The TLA 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.
“Time will tell whether this is a wise decision for them,” Deputy Tadier added. “From a Jersey perspective, I am certainly concerned that – once again – Jersey and Guernsey’s governments do not seem to be working together in the best interests of both islands.
“We have seen this already in terms of ferry travel, and the same may be happening with air routes.”
Deputy Tadier added that he hoped this would change following Jersey’s election in June.
“The next Council of Ministers must make it a priority to work more closely with the other islands on improving inter-island connectivity.”
Guernsey Deputy Simon Vermeulen noted that Loganair had indicated it was “open to discussion” and working with Guernsey in future, something he said he would “absolutely” be in favour of.
“It’s not a small regional airline that suffers from a shortage of pilots or has reliability issues,” he added.
He also contended that, from a connectivity perspective, it was “vital that Jersey and Guernsey work together”, including enabling short inter-island breaks.
Robert Mackenzie, managing director of C. I. Travel Group, said that his main concern was whether Aurigny would be able to provide a service “at least as good if not better” than had been available via Blue Islands.
He noted that the TLA’s decision had been based on “commercial viability” and added that he “didn’t really mind” who was operating the inter-island route, “as long as there is a service that is what we need to satisfy our client’s requirements”.
