No 'benefits' from Flybe/Blue Islands franchise deal
I SEE from the Press that in the wake of the recent statement from the CI Competition and Regulatory Authority, Blue Islands' Rob Veron is seeking to justify its franchise agreement with Flybe and again suggesting that this arrangement gives their passengers 'substantial benefits'. ('Passengers are the winners, says airline as it defends deal', 17 December) Really, Mr Veron? What benefits are those, exactly? With return fares to Jersey ranging from £80 (if you are lucky) to upwards of £130 I don't see how these two partners having a monopoly on the route benefits anyone. We should all be worried about this, whether or not we travel frequently to our sister island. This level of fares is having the effect of stifling inter-island travel, as can be seen from the high level of empty seats admitted previously by the airline, and is therefore having an adverse effect on commerce between the islands. Gone are the days when one would think about a break in Jersey, or for that matter the other way around.
I sincerely hope that at some point soon we will have a competitor airline on this route so we can again enjoy affordable inter-island travel. Blue Islands/Flybe are not interested in the travelling customer, only the bottom line.
MICHAEL WATT,
La Carriere,
Vale.
Editor's footnote: Rob Veron, Blue Islands CEO replies: Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your reader's letter.
Blue Islands is a locally owned airline, committed to serving the Channel Islands, the inter-island service operates in a non-subsidised environment without any government support. Blue Islands needs to be commercially viable to ensure long-term sustainability.
While operating under the Flybe brand, Blue Islands retains control of its scheduling, routes, frequency and timings for all its flights and sets its own fares on every single flight. Blue Islands operates up to 12 inter-island services per day with Flybe operating up to four services. The market is well served with a total choice of up to 16 services per day offered by two carriers, 13 of which are at peak times meaning there is excellent choice of travel between the islands. Both airlines remain fully motivated to maximise sales on their own operated services to meet budget aspirations and compete on market share.
The excess number of seats your correspondent refers to is a result of Blue Islands making enough seats available, so that passengers are virtually always able to get a seat when they want to travel. We also ask your correspondent to appreciate that we offer a wide choice of times at which passengers can choose to fly. Of course, if we ran fewer flights per day, our aircraft would be fuller. However, I don't think that is what our customers want, they want choice and reasonable fares which we provide as a service to our islands.
We would also ask your correspondent, who like all of us would love to have lower fares, to appreciate that Blue Islands has invested millions of pounds creating a Channel Islands-owned airline that looks after the interests of our economy. Like Aurigny, both airlines lose money so there is no question about whether fares are unreasonably high, they don't even cover the costs of operating them.
I can assure you that Blue Islands is an efficiently run business with a continued focus on remaining such; while operating to the highest safety and service standards.
As an example, Guernsey Airport's security fee, levied on every departing and arriving passenger, has increased by 34% between April 2014 and April 2016. Other increases include a recent 9% increase in ground handling fees in Jersey.
The significance of these direct operating cost increases must be noted.
Air transport operations to and from small islands are 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. The second third is attributable to third parties (fuel, ground handling etc.) with the final third contributing towards aircraft, salaries, engineering, maintenance, training, rent and infrastructure. 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.
The many benefits the franchise offers were highlighted in Blue Islands' public response to Cicra's 'open letter' which is available to read in full on our website. Increased exposure to potential new visitors, lowest possible fare options and availability of 'through tickets' to UK and European destinations on the Flybe network were just some of the benefits featured in this document.
What's more, in just six months, the franchise partnership with Flybe has enabled increased seat availability to the Blue Islands network with an additional 60,000 seats added, due to Blue Islands' ability to replace an ATR 42 with an ATR 72 aircraft, and the increased local employment opportunities that have ensued. Blue Islands has also added a new Guernsey-Cardiff service for summer 2017, further supporting inbound tourism and providing Guernsey residents with an exciting new direct destination, again only possible as a direct result of our Flybe franchise and the marketing reach it offers.
As previously stated, we remain adamant that consumers are substantially benefiting from this arrangement and will be taking further opportunity to explain these benefits to Cicra over the course of the forthcoming process.
