Air Alderney, Eclipso Air and Finist’air have all applied for a licence to run a scheduled passenger and cargo service between the two islands.
The applications are due to be considered by Alderney’s Policy & Finance Committee at a special meeting to be held in the coming weeks.
A local aviation enthusiast, who preferred not to be named, said there had not been regular flights between the two islands since Aurigny ran a service at least up to the late 1990s.
‘It was a pretty limited summer service even back then,’ he said.
He said he believed Air Alderney was a very professional outfit who operated the right type of aircraft for the route.
The airline formed in 2017, but did not offer any services in its first five years.
It has since been offering charter flights between the islands and airports on the south coast.
‘They use the Britten-Norman Islander, which Aurigny started off with,’ he said.
‘They have eight to nine seats, so would be ideal.’
He said Finist’air is a French regional airline based at Brest Bretagne Airport.
Founded in 1981, the company’s primary role was to provide a public transport air link with the island of Ushant.
The island, 20km west of the Brittany coast, has a population of less than 1,000 people.
In 2020 Finist’air expanded its offerings to include charter flights across the region.
‘Finist’air use a Cessna Caravan which can take about eight people,’ he said.
‘They appear to be starting a service to Jersey from Brest this summer operating on Fridays and Sundays.’
Little is known about the third company, Eclipso Air, whose website does not include contact details, but does promise that ‘big changes are coming to inter-island travel in the Channel Islands’.
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