Scotland’s largest regional airline started selling tickets on Saturday morning for daily flights on the route which it said would start immediately.
But it had to pause sales later the same day after realising that it could not operate without a licence from the States because Guernsey-Southampton is a designated lifeline route.
‘We have been in touch with Loganair, but no licence application had been received as of Saturday afternoon,’ said Policy & Resources president Lindsay de Sausmarez.
Some customers who had already bought tickets for flights were reporting on Saturday evening that they could no longer find their booking reference on Loganair’s website and were trying to contact the company to get their money back.
By that stage Loganair was saying that it would still operate Guernsey-Southampton flights but subject to receiving permission from the States’ Transport Licensing Authority.
The Guernsey Press understands that Loganair would be far from certain to receive a licence from the authority given challenges caused by competition on the route previously and the States’ existing and emerging air links policies.
Following Blue Islands’ collapse on Friday evening, Loganair announced plans to take over much of its route network between the Channel Islands and UK regional airports.
It has tickets for sale on flights between Guernsey and Jersey from Sunday. Guernsey-Jersey is not a designated lifeline route and can be operated without a licence.
Loganair also said over the weekend that it would establish a permanent base in Jersey, having announced earlier this year that it would start a jet service between the island and Southampton in 2026. It has received encouragement from the States of Jersey.
Meanwhile, the States of Guernsey confirmed that Blue Islands owed it substantially less than it owed the States of Jersey.
‘Until Friday evening, Blue Islands was operating into Guernsey, so there will be outstanding amounts owed for airport charges, such as landing fees,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
Sources suggested that the amount owed to Guernsey could run into tens or possibly even hundreds of thousands of pounds, compared to about £7m. which it was believed to owe Jersey when it collapsed, but the islands have not confirmed the exact figures.
Deputy de Sausmarez said that to the best of her knowledge the States of Jersey provided the States of Guernsey with no prior knowledge that it was withdrawing all financial support for Blue Islands.
‘However, since the news broke I have spoken with [chief minister] Lyndon Farnham directly,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
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