Aurigny slams Open Skies plan

Tuesday 17 July 2018

Air links will be "damaged and destabilised" if an Open Skies policy is approved this week, Aurigny has warned.

The States owned airline has added its voice to the chorus of disapproval over the wisdom of ending the current licensing regime on all but a few key routes.

Aurigny CEO Mark Darby said the airline had written to States members ahead of the debate and outlined in the clearest possible terms what it believes would happen should the Economic Development proposal receive deputies backing.

“In our view, the proposals do not appear to be evidence based and are likely to result in short-term destabilisation of key routes, to the detriment of Guernsey. We are seriously concerned that air services in Guernsey will be irrevocably damaged and once the Open Skies genie is out if the bottle, it will not be possible to revert to the existing system.”

Current rules do not prevent new routes being developed, Mr Darby said, and there were several routes which were licensed, but unserved. “If airlines believed that new routes would be viable, they would be operated,” he added.

“Aurigny believes that in the long-term Guernsey will actually be left with less choice of routes and frequency of services. A number of route licences issued today require minimum year-round service levels. Without these safeguards, off-season frequencies will be reduced – or the routes only operate at peak times.”

The Isle of Man’s experience with Open Skies should stand as a stark warning to Guernsey, where there had been a "substantial deterioration" in air services, to the detriment of the island’s economy, Mr Darby said. The number of destinations served from the Isle of Man had halved over the last decade, and weekly London flight frequencies dropped from 63 to 35.

Recently, Blue Islands founder Derek Coates and its CEO Rob Veron both rubbished the proposals and also cautioned it was likely to have the opposite of the desired effect. Mr Veron said, “I fear the Committee, doubtless with good intensions, has identified a cost neutral – in terms of immediate government outlay) change that has not been appropriately assessed in the hopes that this will somehow fix the fundamental issue which is the sub-scale nature of the Guernsey market.”

Following this intervention, Economic Development President Charles Parkinson said this was nothing more than “the protectionist attitude of one of the incumbents” 

If new routes and reduced fares were something the States wanted to pursue, Mr Darby said, there were "other tools" at its disposal to achieve them.

Former Bailiff Sir Vic Carey has also come out against the plans in a letter published locally at the weekend. 

The proposal comes before the States this week.