Loganair looking at operating routes from Guernsey

Loganair looking at operating routes from Guernsey

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Sarah Lewis

Guernsey

Loganair is exploring opportunities to operate routes from Guernsey, the airline's CEO has said.

Luke Farajallah said he was visiting the island for discussions about future aviation links, nearly a year on from when its licence applications to fly from the island - in the wake of the collapse of Blue Islands - werenot approved by Guernsey's authorities.

He said: "We're not a hostile intruder, we come in peace."

Nico Bezuidenhout, CEO of States-owned airline Aurigny, said he thought "the jury is out to see what level of additional competition [the market] can sustain".

Loganair previously applied for licences to operate flights between Guernsey and Jersey and Guernsey and Southampton following Blue Islands' collapse, but withdrew its applications after they were provisionally refused.

Farajallah said any future expansion would need to be commercially viable and complement Aurigny and "if there's a match, then we will be there in a heartbeat".

He said: "I'd love to see Loganair's tartan tails across the whole of the UK and the Channel Islands, that's the right approach.

"I think consolidation in the market is inevitable where you have players of scale.

"They generally do dominate these sorts of islands' communities, and it's really important we give all island communities those options."

When asked what routes the airline were interested in operating, Farajallah added: "The key licence routes out of Guernsey are the ones that really do make Guernsey work and anything more than that may be based on a charter operation in the summer.

"Maybe some summer seasonal routes... we operate Bordeaux, we operate Paris and it's really easy to see how some of these connections could be made from Guernsey as well."

Aurigny's chief executive, Nico Bezuidenhout, said the island's aviation market was open to additional airlines, provided their services were complementary to existing connections.

He said of the market: "I think the jury is out to see what level of additional competition it can sustain."

Bezuidenhout said regardless of passenger demand "our reason for existence and our mandate from our shareholder is to protect lifeline routes".

He said of Aurigny's responsibilities: "We have to be there, I have to provide you six flights a day into Gatwick, whether there are passengers or not."

Farajallah said Loganair was not currently seeking to compete with Aurigny on the Guernsey-Jersey route, adding he did not see the need for two airlines operating the route.

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