Reliability over cost most important for transport links

First, air links. The States of Guernsey made one of their better decisions when they acquired Gatwick landing slots to ensure the island continued to have access to a principal London airport and moreover ensured continuity by owning the airline entitled to use those slots.

There are numerous criticisms concerning the fares charged by Aurigny but I suspect some islanders look at the cheaper fares available in Jersey and ask why can’t we have the same here? The answer is simply down to economics. Jersey, as a bigger island, has a greater tourism industry and its larger size provides more scope for it and can benefit from economies of scale. More accommodation, more attractions (but certainly not better attractions than we have), more room for a bigger runway and more appeal for budget airlines to be interested in providing a service.

Turning to Aurigny and its fares, to satisfy those who believe it should reduce them, we need to have access to Aurigny’s balance sheet and profit and loss accounts to see where economies can be made, if at all. Airlines buy or lease aircraft, employ flight crew, cabin crew, service and maintenance engineers, ground staff, pay landing fees, buy fuel, pay administration staff, incur IT costs and so on. When these costs are all factored in against the income generated from fare-paying passengers, the numbers will reveal if profits are being made or not.

Only if profits are healthy can fares be reduced and Aurigny is presently making a loss, not I suspect from over-payments to executives or staff or gross inefficiencies but simply because the costs incurred for an airline of Aurigny’s size is disproportionally greater than those for a larger airline.

Dialogue on air transport links at the present time cannot but include debate on the length of our runway. Enable larger aircraft to be able to land here with a full load and fares will immediately fall, some say.

The overall picture needs to be addressed before any such conclusion can be made. While Aurigny continue to provide a year-round Gatwick service islanders can be assured of being able to travel to London daily with a choice of departure times, be it for business, pleasure, health, holidays or education.

Should the runway be extended sufficiently for a large airline such as EasyJet to fly here offering cheaper fares, not only would this be a direct threat to the survival of our own airline but should it transpire that they do not consistently achieve load factors of around 90%, they will be gone overnight having no regard to the welfare and needs of islanders as they are solely driven by profit. Furthermore, such an airline would only offer a link to a main hub such as London and all the regional links which Aurigny currently provide would cease with the demise of the airline.

Does anybody really want to see Guernsey with just one or maybe two flights per day provided by a budget airline which would withdraw its services at the drop of a hat if it became uneconomical? Does anybody think such an airline could provide services throughout the winter and achieve its load factor criteria?

I fully appreciate how difficult it is for islanders to meet the cost of air travel, but in my view it is not something we can consider and say costly air fares can be attributed to a person or persons or a government policy or failing administration.

We are most fortunate to live in a beautiful, safe, friendly, caring little island, which governs itself, has a healthy economy in the black and whose state pension fund is well managed, healthy and viable. Having such a paradise to live in does not come completely without consequences; there are not many, but one of them is the cost of getting away from time to time.

Secondly, sea links. Few will dispute that our fast ferry sea links are chaotic and a shambles, with a widespread dreadful reputation which has featured in the national press.

There is a fundamental flaw in the whole concept of our cross-channel fast ferry service and that is, the vessels operating it are not designed to function, and cannot be reliably operated, in places other than rivers, estuaries, lochs and areas of calm water. The winter time seas encountered regularly in the English Channel are far too rough for these vessels and this brings nothing but frustration, disruption costs, time loss and inconvenience to passengers.

It is not that far to the English south coast and a conventional ferry which travels at roughly half the speed would only take a further two and a half hours or thereabouts. Passengers would, I feel sure, rather build another couple of hours into their travel arrangements in exchange for the certainty of departure times. In my youth, the old British Rail-owned mail boats ran a daily service from Southampton/Weymouth which was so reliable ‘you could set your watch by them’. If the States feel justified in supporting Aurigny to the tune of £60m. in guarantees for new aircraft fitted with technology which may or may not result in a marginal increase in arrivals in conditions of low visibility, surely they must also feel justified in supporting an island-owned conventional ferry service? What an excellent advert it would be for the island if the mainland public could see Aurigny aircraft regularly flying into UK airports and an Aurigny Ferries vessel regularly docking along the south coast. Provided, that is, they all have ‘Guernsey’ emblazoned on their flanks.

TIM WETHERALL

Fistral Cottage,

St Saviour’s,

GY7 9PH.

Editor’s footnote: Ian Le Moigne, media relations manager, Condor Ferries, replies:

We would be happy to address points relevant to Condor raised by your correspondent.

Condor operates a mixed fleet of high-speed and conventional ferries which is absolutely right and necessary for maintaining the three strands of our business – essential, lifeline freight services, islander travel and the seasonal inbound visitor market.

As to the suggestion that conventional ships can make the cross-channel sailing only two and a half hours longer than a high speed vessel, the reality is that Clipper’s crossing time to Portsmouth is scheduled at seven hours from Guernsey and eight from Jersey. We also know from feedback and research that many UK and Continental visitors prefer a two to three-hour journey to the islands, so both Condor Rapide and Condor Liberation provide a vital high-speed link in this regard.

The weather can present challenges to shipping in the English Channel and whilst these affect mostly high-speed services, the storms of the past few weeks impacted not only on Condor’s sailings but other cross-Channel operators too, causing several delays and cancellations. We reacted to this disruption by chartering in a freight-only ship, the Arrow, last week to ensure essential supplies reached the islands.

Condor is fully conscious of its responsibilities as the primary sea carrier. We aim to balance the needs of passengers and lifeline freight as part of the company’s commitment to keeping the islands connected and supplied for over seven decades.