Business groups pleased to see rise in air traffic

Monday 24 June 2019

A collective statement has been issued from three of Guernsey's largest business groups, saying they are all pleased to see 'the first meaningful recovery in air traffic after a decade of decline'.

The IoD, Chamber of Guernsey, and Guernsey International Business Association all rely on travel to and from Guernsey to maintain strong business links with the rest of the world.

So they said the statistics from the first five months of the year were pleasing to see. 

"The improved connectivity and growing traffic numbers are supporting an improvement in sentiment amongst the business community as well as providing meaningful social benefits to islanders," a spokesperson said.

"The success of the London Heathrow service shows the potential of route development support to improve connectivity, grow passenger traffic and aid economic activity. The business groups understand that the Committee for Economic Development is in the process of securing an extension of the Heathrow service, and we look forward to the announcement of the schedule for the winter season."

The Heathrow route in particular is one important to the business community, and as such, it was pleased when it was first announced the route would be being started. Economic Development felt it was an important enough link for the island to have to back it with an £800,000 subsidy.  

"The impact being delivered in the first seven months of the Heathrow service with £0.825m of funding support needs to be looked at in the context of the £31.73m allocated to Aurigny since 2016 and in addition to the $60m guarantee provided by the States of Guernsey to Aurigny to facilitate the renewal of the ATR fleet, along with the open skies / route development strategy being employed by the Committee for Economic Development," the spokesperson added. 

Pictured top: Guernsey Airport.