The president of Economic Development said the Brittany Ferries contract was an example of the benefits of working with a strong and global brand, which had a large reach, customer base and marketing power.
‘I think that’s exactly the kind of conversations we should be exploring for air connectivity as well.’
Diversifying the number of airlines serving Guernsey was a priority for her committee, she said.
Deputy Kazantseva-Miller said the island’s existing air policy framework had served its intended purpose to provide support for Aurigny post-Covid, but was now viewed as not enabling Guernsey’s air connectivity requirements.
As such, a new air policy framework and air transport licensing policy were being developed.
Consideration for the protection of Aurigny – especially in relation to lifeline routes – would be made as part of those developments, she added.
‘As an island community we need to ensure we’ve got competition, while at the same time maintaining those lifeline routes.’
In a brief update on air route popularity, she said numbers on the Paris connection – launched in April last year – continued to grow, and was proving popular with both islanders and visitors.
She said sea and air connectivity were ‘inherently intertwined’, and both supported the island’s tourism and retail offering.
Responding to concerns from Deputy Neil Inder about the affordability of air travel, Deputy Kazantseva-Miller said her committee had conducted a benchmarking analysis regarding affordability, reliability and connectivity. She said this type of analysis should be done regularly, perhaps even annually.
‘I think this is the kind of work we could be bringing in-house, not necessarily outsourcing, because we can get access to data. We’ve got some really good officers in the team who can do the data analysis, so this is the kind of thing we’ll be exploring as part of the work streams going forward.’
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