Airline boss calls for island to invest more in tourism
GUERNSEY needs to invest more heavily in its tourism product to become the sort of resort which will allow airlines to make a profit, the boss of Blue Islands told a Chamber of Commerce lunch yesterday.
Rob Veron painted a fairly bleak picture for the island and an airline which, he said, had seen owner Derek Coates 'investing' £45m. over the past 11 years, and defended, with evidence, the airline's pricing structure, claiming that the inter-island market was only now, with £120 return fares considered to be the norm, able to wash its face financially.
Mr Veron said that inter-island fares were effectively costed a third in airport charges, a third in ground handling and fuel costs, and a third in overheads, with virtually no scope for profit at current levels.
He added that security fees had risen by a third since 2014, airport charges had escalated ahead of the cost of living and aviation fuel was more expensive in the islands than in the UK.
Competition on the inter-island route in years past and £25 seats each way had created 'false expectations', Mr Veron said, which he claimed had cost Blue Islands and Aurigny £1m. in losses each year.
'Now we have moved away from that to a situation with some refinement in the market into a position with a sustainable level of supply and a price point which mitigates loss and covers costs – there is no massive profit to be made inter-island.'
