Air travel still nowhere near pre-Covid level

But that is still far below the 800,000 made during 2019, but a big improvement on 2020 when there were fewer than 190,000.

October was the busiest month of 2021, with more than 46,000 journeys, as travellers took advantage of the autumn half-term and low Covid figures.

The year started slowly, with Southampton and Alderney the only destinations served for much of January, February, March and April.

February was the quietest month, with just more than 1,000 journeys. That was at the height of the second lockdown and people were required to have essential travel permits to come into the Bailiwick from mid-January until late March.

Southampton’s use as a lifeline route during lockdowns meant it was busy, with nearly 50,000 journeys.

Gatwick services restarted in May and despite Southampton’s head start, the London airport quickly reclaimed its place as Guernsey’s most popular route.

There were 82,000 journeys made between Guernsey and Gatwick during the year and during October the Gatwick link made up a third of the 46,000 journeys taken.

Alderney again had another bumper year, with more than 33,000 journeys made in 2021, compared with a 2019 pre-pandemic total of 29,000.

The rise has been attributed to more Guernsey residents choosing to holiday closer to home. The flights peaked at over 4,000 a month in April, May and August.

Manchester and Jersey services restarted in May and were the island’s fourth and fifth most popular routes last year, with 23,000 and 19,000 journeys respectively.

With Jersey, more than half the journeys were in October and November.

Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter and East Midlands services started in July and came in sixth, seventh, eight and ninth on the busiest route list.