Open skies is a start – now slash airport fees

In recent years, Guernsey Airport passenger numbers have been falling, whilst other similar airports, such as Jersey and the Isle of Man, have risen.

In 2011, Guernsey Airport handled 900,000 passengers, last year only 809,000, a decline of more than 10%, while Jersey’s figures have risen over 10% and the Isle of Man almost 14%.

The new open skies policy will help to encourage airlines to launch new routes and allow them to compete on existing routes which, in turn, will make fares more attractive and thus increase passenger traffic.

But that is just the first step.

The next step is to make operating to Guernsey more attractive to the airlines – and the way to do that is to cut the airport charges levied on commercial aviation flights to and from the airport.

At present, the charges are calculated according to a formula based on the weight of an aircraft and separate fixed amounts per passenger, for ‘passenger fees’, ‘security’, and ‘airport development’, with different amounts charged for flights

within the Channel Islands area,

and without.

This means that a fully occupied flight to or from Jersey will be paying just over £5 per passenger, whilst a sparsely sold flight to the UK could incur charges of over £20 per passenger.

According to the reports on the Guernsey Airport website (which also openly lists the various airport charges), the airport generated income of almost £12m. in 2015, slightly up from the previous year, and about 73% of that income came from the above-mentioned passenger fees. As passenger numbers have dropped, that income will not have increased, remaining around the £9m. level from fees derived from passenger traffic.

If one wants to attract new airlines (and one does want to encourage new airlines), one needs to slash those airport charges.

One could offer incentives to airlines for new routes – but that is unfair for the existing operators. Instead, make the charge a straight £5 fee per arriving or departing passenger to include aircraft, passenger, security and airport development charges.

That will still generate £4m. a year at the current level of business, but a shortfall of £5m.

From the Guernsey Trade Media website, we learn that Guernsey’s hotels, guest houses, and other commercial tourist accommodation facilities generate about 800,000 bed nights per year. Apply a straight £5 per head ‘bed tax’ on that accommodation and the States can recover £4m. in one swoop. As the open skies policy, coupled with the low airport fees, starts to kick in, flights will increase, more passengers will come and more tourists will stay on the island. Within a couple of years, passenger traffic at the airport could pass 900,000 and even reach one million, while bed nights would rise to one million a year.

These rises would generate for the States an extra £1.5-2m. a year, far outstripping the losses incurred during the first year of transition.

Hoteliers on the island might complain against such a policy, but they should bear in mind that Jersey’s accommodation sector has a 5% VAT surcharge to contend with.

Once they see the increases in passenger numbers, they will then also reap the benefits.

For the rest of the island, the increase in tourist arrivals will give a welcome boost to the island’s economy, and also facilitate improved air links and more affordable fares for islanders wishing to get off the island.

ALVIN J. FURRER,

4, El Tawfiq Street,

Cairo,

Egypt.