No need for competition? Surely lower-cost air fares would encourage travellers
I SEE that Blue Islands MD Rob Veron is again telling us that there is no need for competition on the inter-island route as four out of 10 seats are unsold and there is already overcapacity. Does he really expect us to believe that these seats would remain unsold if the fares were more reasonable? My last flight to Jersey and return cost £122. I have just returned from a trip to Exeter with Flybe (ironically via Jersey) costing a very reasonable £84. Tell us Mr Veron please, why you think that people don't want to travel inter-island like they used to?
MIKE WATT,
La Carriere,
Vale,
GY3 5HD.
Editor's footnote: Rob Veron, Blue Islands' CEO, responds: Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your reader's letter.
The inter-island fare is available from £39.99 one-way, including free baggage and ticket changes (fare difference may apply), the same as it was in 2014, as is our schedule. There are up to 16 flights between the islands per day (12 operated by Blue Islands)… with 13 of these services operating at peak times (0700-1000 and 1500-2000).
Naturally Blue Islands will provide market capacity to meet demand, and we of course want to maximise our volumes, yet there are 233,000 seats serving a market of just 128,000 which is, at times, inelastic and Blue Islands has to cover the costs of operating these sub-optimal services too.
Yes, all flights are available to book through flybe.com, however Blue Islands retains control of its scheduling, routes, frequency and timings for all its flights and independently sets its own fares on every single flight creating 100 per cent competition with services operated by Flybe.
Markets do of course move; demand for business travel in general and for inter-island specifically is affected by a wide range of factors.
Over the past five years we have seen several Channel Island businesses consolidating from an office in each island to an office in either Guernsey or Jersey, for a single Channel Island operation.
While it's hard to replace a face-to-face meeting, a combination of business travel policies becoming increasingly robust, together with the advancement and accessibility of reliable video conferencing – which also allows more employees to be present at meetings – results in a reduced requirement for business travel, especially inter-island.
Air transport operations to and from small islands is costly. The charges at Guernsey and Jersey airports are the highest on our network and consume approximately one third of the current average fare on an inter-island flight. As a locally owned airline serving the Channel Islands we need to ensure long-term sustainability.
We would gladly pass on any cost savings to our customers, should the States of Guernsey and States of Jersey be forthcoming with more benevolent pricing of the ports. By way of an example, Guernsey Airport has increased its security charges by 10% per passenger adding to the ever-increasing costs of providing such services.
