OPINION: Public subscription?

Tuesday 06 December 2022

Nicholas Mahy has suggested a public subscription scheme could be used to fund the redevelopment of Alderney's airport and runway.

He says it could benefit the island financially, if support for the project is as strong as many believe.

Dear Editor,

Clearly there are very strong feelings about the proposed radical development of Alderney Airport – option “C”.

On the one hand, some Alderney residents and officials, plus a handful of Guernsey politicians and supporters of economically insecure Aurigny Air Services, dearly want Alderney airport to develop into a transport hub, with the potential for :

• Security of transport links and medivac facilities for Alderney residents
• Economic development of Alderney through enhanced visitor arrivals and possible growth in business links
• Strengthening the financial position of Aurigny Air Services through allowing use of existing aircraft on the Alderney route
• Enhancement of political vanity of some of the promoters

Whereas, for many people, including many Guernsey resident voters and a lot of individuals who have specialised knowledge of Channel Island air transportation:

• the costs of proposed option “C” at the outset, and annually going forward, are absolutely prohibitive, especially in these times of imminent shortfalls in tax revenues, as informed by the same committee that appears to be desperate for the Alderney airport project to go forward.

My idea is that, if the few individuals who are keen on this project want to proceed, they could raise the money by public subscription. They could set up a PLC and issue paid up shares to raise the 24M. The States of Alderney could then sell the PLC a 50(?) year concession to develop and operate the airport, on an annual rental basis. The uptake of the shares would provide a good measure of the project's financial viability, and Alderney States would potentially stand to gain financially of the project was successful.

Nicholas Mahy