Select a region
The "immense" value of the Southampton-Alderney air links has been demonstrated in a government led passenger exit survey.
The survey was carried out over 12 months, in the year ending in September 2019, and, despite a reduction in the number of flights, showed that the number of passengers using the route was up by 3%.
The survey also looked into why people were visiting Alderney – half of the 26,177 air passengers* using both the Southampton and Guernsey routes were visitors to the island, 44% were residents and just 6% were second home owners. Just over half (54%) of people travelling in and out of Alderney by air in the survey period used the Guernsey service, the remainder flying direct from Southampton.
Stats showed the importance of Alderney Week and other summer festivals with the number of air passengers doubling from 2,000 in June to 4,000 in August.
Of the 11,968 passengers using the Southampton route, six out of 10 were visitors.
Most of these visitors came for leisure purposes, around 1,000 for business.
Of the 5,600 Alderney resident flights to Guernsey, half were travelling for medical purposes.
Of the 6,965 visitors arriving in Alderney from Guernsey, just under half began their journey elsewhere.
Of all 26,177 air passengers during the twelve-month survey period, 6% or 1,630 persons were second home owners plus immediate family. The majority of these numbers used the Southampton service.
"We are delighted with the findings generated from the first annual passenger exit survey,” said Christian Harris, States of Alderney Chairman of the Committee for Tourism & Economic Development. “The results are immensely valuable in business development terms and certainly provide the hard evidence of how important the Southampton link is for the Island. I would also like to express my thanks to all the Alderney residents who kindly completed the survey during the twelve-month period.”
Pictured: The survey was undertaken by the States of Alderney using a small team of researchers at the island’s airport and Harbour.
He said the figures revealed the impact of any reduction in air services. For example, a 17% reduction in scheduled aircraft movements on the Guernsey service in the third quarter of 2019 (July- September), compared with the same period in 2018, adversely affected the number of Guernsey passengers which dropped 14% in that period.
But during the nine-month period ending June 30th 2019 when Guernsey flight numbers were only slightly down, passenger movements increased slightly.
When added together, overall passenger movements on the Guernsey service during the survey year were down 4% over the previous 12-month period. It’s thought that the Little Ferry Company service, which operated during the summer, might have impacted air passenger numbers.
In total, just under 4,000 surveys were completed during the year covering a sample of over 6,000 departing passengers – the total actual passenger numbers were provided by the States of Guernsey for air traffic and the Little Ferry Company for sea passengers. Margin for error when the figures were collated was a mere +/- 1.5% for air passenger movements and +/- 3% for sea passenger movements, making this an authoritative fact-based look at all passenger movements.
Pictured top: L-R Christian Harris, Alderney's Chairman of Committee for Tourism & Economic Development, Anne-Isabelle Boulon, Tourism Officer, Anthea Clarke of the Survey Team.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.