New airline could threaten transport links
GUERNSEY is extremely fortunate to have two locally-owned airlines serving the travel needs of our community. Aurigny is owned and funded by the government and Blue Islands is 100% owned by myself and is privately funded. Over the years we have both invested heavily in providing air services that meet the needs of our customers. And we have both lost a fair amount of money over the years doing so. We both smile at the truth in the well-known old joke – 'if you want to make a small fortune in aviation, start with a big one'. We both accept that we lose money because this is our island, we love it and seek for it to prosper. Our roots are grounded in the Guernsey soil and, as such, we want to provide the islands with a sustainable, long-term future service.
Most people, including me, would welcome more destinations, lower prices and more seats, at the perfect time of day that each of us wants to travel. And we want them offered 365 days a year. Who wouldn't want that?
On the other hand, companies must be financially viable and sustainable over the long term if our island is to prosper.
If Waves, the newcomer, gets off the ground, it will be owned and funded by investors through a financial fund that must generate a profitable return for its shareholders. That is a very difficult challenge indeed for a small airline in the highly-regulated aviation industry.
It is also our understanding that none of the directors has ever run an airline before, so they will have a very steep learning curve ahead of them as they struggle to make the concept profitable.
Every new business seeking investors can produce sexy forecasts, that's the easy bit. Delivering them profitably is another matter altogether.
This new company is projecting itself as a 'tech play', principally, we understand, because it will have an app as a means of direct booking, and as such has compared itself to Uber the taxi company. This is of course a very false comparison. Many restaurants have apps on iPads to send orders to the kitchen. That doesn't make them 'tech plays'.
It is our understanding that the company wants to begin by serving the route between Alderney and Guernsey. If they are awarded the licence, and succeed in winning a PSO subsidy from Guernsey to run the route, then, by definition, Aurigny, which has suffered from considerable criticism in Alderney, would have to pull off the route.
This would be good for Aurigny as it would reduce their losses. However, if Waves fails to be profitable and is sold or goes broke in a couple of years' time, then Alderney could be left with no airline and it would be very unlikely that Aurigny would wish to return to the route willingly.
One of the advantages that Waves may have if they obtain an AOC (air operator's certificate) under the new, less stringent 2-Reg structure is that it will be able to operate under a lower level of safety requirements than other airlines. It would be able to fly with one member of crew, with a single engine, over water, often in bad weather. No other commercial airline operating to Civil Aviation Authority safety standards is permitted to do that, for obvious reasons.
This new licence would also allow passengers to bypass security levels and avoid Guernsey Airport charges as they pass through a hangar adjacent to the airport itself, directly onto the runway.
We will have to wait and see how many passengers actually feel comfortable about allowing themselves and their family to use this kind of service.
As the owner of the wonderful Braye Beach Hotel in Alderney, I would be personally very concerned if this new company should succeed in replacing Aurigny in the future. We should, in my opinion, seek to fix what we have got with a tried and tested airline, Aurigny (or another experienced operator), rather than risk a completely untested newcomer jeopardising the island's future sustainable transport links.
DEREK COATES,
Chairman and owner of Blue Islands.
