Blue Islands wants to limit inter-island flights

Channel
Guernsey
Jersey
Travel
Friday 30 March 2018 at 1:03pm

Credit: ITV Channel Television

Blue Islands want the conditions of their licence for the Guernsey to Jersey service removed.

Currently they have to fly between the islands a certain number of times a day, and at certain times.

However, they want that condition removed so they can remove 'less economical' flights from their schedule.

The airline says it's in response to new operator Waves being given a licence for the same route and they don't believe there's enough demand for a third competitor.

Currently, Blue Islands provides up to 10 peak and off peak inter-island flights per day, serving the market at times when most people want to fly, while also providing flexibility by operating at times when fewer people have demonstrated a desire to travel and where those flights lose money. Prior to Blue Islands’ judicial review and the Transport Licensing Authority’s subsequent agreement that Waves required a licence to sell individual seats, Waves was operating illegally and the impact this had on market share was clear with no market growth. While Blue Islands supports competition, given the sub-scale nature of the market and the destabilising effect another competitor will have, we believe the wrong decision has been made. Therefore, because of the disappointing decision of the Transport Licensing Authority to award an unrestricted licence and introduce a third competitor into an over supplied market, Blue Islands is now applying to have its own licence stipulations removed.