Summer charter flights boost tourist economy

Monday 18 November 2019

Blue Islands has released statistics for its summer schedules - showing it operated more than 30 charter flights from Groningen and Rotterdam over the summer, which meant Guernsey welcomed 1,400 European tourists for week-long stays.

Working with its tour operator partners, the airline was selected to operate flights for an eight week Groningen Airport Eelde - Guernsey programme.

With services at 85% full, the activity brought more than 500 tourists over to the island for a week's stay between April and mid-June.

Meanwhile, Blue Islands' Rotterdam - Guernsey charter service ran for 22 weeks, finishing in mid-September. The 68-seat ATR operated at 80% capacity, bringing 825 tourists over.

"Repeating our Dutch activity for 2019 highlights the importance of specialist tour operators such as Sunair identifying niche markets for growth opportunities, as we seek to perform a vital role in the regeneration of tourism," said CEO of Blue Islands, Rob Veron.

Pictured: Rob Veron.

"Our business development strategy is focussed on developing new routes and supporting the local economy to ensure Blue Islands is well optimised, commercial viable, sustainable and importantly, a 'local' operation focussed on providing the best value services for islanders and visitors alike."

Director of Marketing & Tourism for VisitGuernsey, Mike Hopkins, added:

“We are extremely pleased with the success of the first Groningen charter. My trade team have been working with Sunair, our Dutch tour operator partner, for the last 12 months looking at the opportunity to increase the number of charter operations from Holland. 

 “We are really pleased that Blue Islands was able to provide the charter operation to support Sunair’s new service from Groningen, in addition to the Rotterdam route, and has provided such a fabulous service for our Dutch visitors during the season.”