Airport keeping landing costs down by charging in other ways

Wednesday 06 March 2019

Guernsey's Ports Board is trying to nurture new air links in to Guernsey by freezing landing costs and raising money through different non-aeronautical avenues.

This is so it can keep all of the associated costs with flying to Guernsey for operators down, making it better value for them to set up links to the island - those costs include landing fees and anything else which could be seen as a barrier to entry for any new airlines or routes.

They money that would have been generated by putting the prices up in 2019 is being generated through other new means, according to the General Manager of Ports, Colin Le Ray.

Included in those new money-making plans is the project to expand and better the island's duty free offering, an above RPI increase in parking costs and "better use of the airport land".

Guernsey Airport's Duty Free offering has been getting an upgrade in recent months, now you walk through it on your way to departures. This has all been part of changes to how the Ports Board make their money. 

"The Guernsey Ports Board recognises the aviation market at Guernsey remains a challenge for operators and has agreed to hold its aeronautical charges at 2018 price levels in 2019. It has set a target for passenger numbers this year of 855k passengers," Mr Le Ray said.

"Opportunities to diversify income for the airport into other areas are already underway, with modifications to the duty free outlet (leading to increased retail income); above RPI increases in long-term car parking (effective 1st Jan 2019) and better use of the airport land all coming on line in 2019. All of these initiatives will generate more non-aeronautical revenue this year and will help offset lost income that would otherwise have been generated through increased charges to aircraft and passengers.”

Flybe are going to run a route to Heathrow for seven months over the summer, subsided by the States of Guernsey. 

Landing fees as just an example are often seen as a deterring factor in getting new air links to an airport, and this is no different from Guernsey. This is evidenced by the fact that Economic Development have just agreed to subsidise Flybe's landing fees with a £147,000 package "through the airport's route discount policy".

And the move from Guernsey Airport comes with a States wide push to try and improve the island's air links. It was one of ED's key objectives to improve international air links, which it is saying it has made progress on by securing this Flybe Heathrow route, and the Committee President Charles Parkinson has also been able to boast that seven new routes have been announced since they implemented a quasi-open skies policy. 

Mr Le Ray said it was the aim of keeping their fees down to facilitate more routes in the future. Speaking on the new routes which have been announced, he added: "Changes to the air transport licensing regime approved by the States of Deliberation last Autumn, have led to a number of new routes being timetabled to operate from this summer. The relative performance of these routes is yet to be determined, so it is a little early to predict the net impact on overall passenger numbers in 2019.

"In general terms, overall passenger traffic at Guernsey Airport has declined by 11% over the past 10 years. A number of routes have seen percentage reductions in excess of this - particularly inter-island services; whilst other routes have not seen that same level of decline."

Pictured top: Guernsey Airport.