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In a further boost to plans for off-island travel in 2025, Blue Islands has announced it will be flying between Guernsey and Exeter, East Midlands and Norwich next year.
The privately owned airline says these new routes will "provide options for travellers to and from the island".
Each of the destinations has previously been served by States-owned Aurigny but only Exeter will have an Aurigny service next year, resuming during the summer.
Blue Islands said it will instead offer year round services to Exeter, up to six times a week, from March, while its new East Midlands service will fly three times a week - also year round, from March.
The Norwich service will be twice weekly between May and September.
Some of the Guernsey/Exeter and all of the Guernsey/East Midlands and Guernsey/Norwich services will have "short stops" in Jersey.
This means the Guernsey to Exeter flight time will be 45 minutes if direct or 1 hour 35 minutes if via Jersey, the East Midlands service will be 2 hours and 10 minutes and the Norwich service will be 2 hours 20 minutes.
Pictured: Blue Islands is extending its Guernsey offering.
Blue Islands has said the introduction of these new routes will enable them to maintain higher service frequency on the vital inter-island Guernsey-Jersey connection than would otherwise be possible.
The airline has confirmed that Inter-island frequency will remain at current levels of three flights each way on weekdays for Summer 2025, with two flights each way per day at weekends.
Blue Islands also serves the lifeline Guernsey-Southampton route jointly with Aurigny, with both airlines saying they intend to provide full optionality to customers by enabling the new Guernsey connections to be booked via either airline’s system in due course.
“We’re delighted to be increasing Blue Islands’ services from Guernsey next year with no fewer than three new routes to complement existing Blue Islands flights to Jersey and Southampton," said Ronnie Matheson, Chief Revenue Officer Blue Islands’.
"Exeter, East Midlands and Norwich are all long-standing destinations from Guernsey, and our new flights will be on sale from next week – providing plenty of opportunity to plan for 2025 whether travelling for leisure, to and from university, visiting friends and relatives or for business.
“Connectivity is essential for island communities, and providing that year-round connectivity is a key part of Blue Islands’ DNA. Alongside today’s announcement, we’re looking forward to announcing further exciting developments in the coming weeks.”
Pictured: While Aurigny has cut some of its services for 2025, Blue Islands is adding to its schedules.
The airline operates a fleet of five ATR aircraft, four based in Jersey and one based in Guernsey and already flies one in four passengers at Guernsey Airport.
To run its new routes, and to maintain its other services, Blue Islands says it will be recruiting additional Guernsey-based aircrew ahead of next summer.
The three new Blue Islands routes will be on sale from Wednesday 11 December, with flights commencing from March and May 2025.
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