OUR to make decisions on air route licensing

THE Office of Utility Regulation is to take over responsibility for air transport route licensing.

It will operate in a shadow capacity immediately.

Commerce and Employment minister Carla McNulty Bauer (pictured) said her department would take a report to the States, probably in June, asking that the OUR be given full responsibility for the job as an independent statutory official.

Consultation that followed the release of the department's briefing paper on the regulation of air and sea transport links in January last year came out against Commerce and Employment continuing as the licensing body, particularly given the States ownership of Aurigny.

'And the Treasury and Resources proposal for a cash injection into Aurigny has made that position even more untenable,' said Deputy McNulty Bauer.

A new licensing authority needed to have statutory powers and the resulting workload, which was not excessive, would not overburden the regulator.

Following the consultation process, the department commissioned the OUR to undertake its own strategic review of air route licensing, the results of which were published in January.