Air bridge to Jersey would be "inappropriate and incompatible"

Friday 14 August 2020

There are no plans to open up an air bridge to Jersey anytime soon, according to Deputy Gavin St Pier, so long as new cases keep being identified.

There are now 11 active cases in the island, as of Friday morning, with thousands still awaiting results.

It hit zero known cases for a short while last month, but that number quickly started to climb again as people entered the island.

"We're not even considering opening to Jersey at this stage," Deputy St Pier said during an interview with Isle of Man TV, whilst on his recent isolation-free holiday. "They have adopted a different strategy on this and I'm not critical on that - I think every jurisdiction has to make their own judgements on what they believe is right for their community."

Pictured: Deputy Gavin St Pier said Guernsey is "not considering" an airbridge with Jersey.

This month, Jersey entered Level 1 of its exit strategy, meaning all close personal contact services and treatments can go ahead, up to 80 people can attend funerals - provided they social distance - and changing rooms at gyms can reopen.

However, many aspects of island life are still restricted, with night clubs yet to open their doors, intensive indoor sports still banned and live music remaining off the cards. In addition, the island's 2020 Air Display has been cancelled because of concerns over covid, and some schools decided not to let parents join their children as they collected their exam results yesterday. 

Although Jersey residents aren't completely free from lockdown yet, the island's travel restrictions are much less limiting than Guernsey's.

Pictured: Guernsey's travel restrictions are much more limiting than Jersey's.

People in Jersey have the option of travelling to more than 60 different countries, including the UK, without any need self-isolation on return, so long as they have a negative test result on arrival.

Meanwhile, the only other jurisdiction people in Guernsey can travel to without need for any quarantine on return is the Isle of Man.

"[Jersey's government] have made the judgements that they believe are right for them, but it wouldn't be compatible with the strategy we've adopted and so, for that reason, it would not be appropriate for us to have an airbridge with them yet," Deputy St Pier added.