‘Subsidise airport £3m. a year to balance books’

The airport lost £5.5m. last year, according to the latest States Accounts revealed, while the harbour made a £845,000 profit.

There is already a three-year plan in place, to look at efficiency, savings, commercial opportunities and increased charges at both the harbour and the airport, Deputy Roffey said, but he believed that it was ‘unrealistic’ to expect the airport to be profitable.

He said his personal view was that it would be better for the States to provide a set subsidy – likely in the region of £3m. annually – which would be a realistic level of support, while the rest of the expenses were covered through airport charges and finding efficiencies.

‘If we try and make the airport self-financing with charges, it would have a deleterious impact on the economy and it would make air travel extremely expensive,’ he said.

In the past the books have been balanced by combining the more profitable harbour with the loss-making airport, but Deputy Roffey said that during the recent States debate on mooring fees, he was getting a strong message from some deputies that they wanted the two bodies to be financially uncoupled.

‘There will then be a real issue with the airport, as it has never been able to generate enough income to fund its capital infrastructure,’ he said.

He noted that the Ports Accounts were balanced just before the pandemic, but this was only due to capital projects at both the airport and harbour being delayed.

And now those projects needed to be carried out.

And while the harbour could ‘wash its own face’ he said, the airport could not.

‘Things are getting worse as the years go by as air requirements get stricter, and more improvements are needed,’ he said.

He noted that Guernsey already paid a £1m. subsidy a year to cover Alderney Airport’s running costs and the States of Jersey also subsidised its airport’s running costs.

‘Most other small airports receive some sort of small subsidy,’ he said. ‘I would rather we would be transparent about what we are doing, but ultimately it is down to P&R.’