Heathrow link is a boon to island and great value

I have had three specific instances of people who have come to the island, looking to form new businesses, create local jobs and provide a welcome boost to our tax take, that have seen the existence of the Heathrow route as a stamp of approval for the island.

I know that it shouldn’t make any difference to people from London and the south-east whether they travel through Gatwick or Stansted, but the fact of the matter is that they want to use Heathrow and see a jurisdiction connected through Heathrow as somehow of greater import. If I have seen a number of people that wouldn’t have come otherwise, I am sure that there are many more elsewhere. Of course, the Heathrow link has been brought up by Deputy Ferbrache as a misdirection, to move debate away from the travails of Aurigny and onto anything else. Aurigny bid for the Heathrow route but could not compete with the tender from Flybe, which suggests that the States should be congratulated on getting the best value for money from the process.

As for Aurigny, no one should allow this misdirection to take them away from interrogating the facts. In my view, the idea that the States has created an air of uncertainty over the past year is questionable. Nothing that has happened over the past year couldn’t have been foreseen and, in a well-run company, will have been planned for and those plans thoroughly challenged by both the shareholders and the board. Secondly, drawing attention away from the absolute losses of Aurigny by talking about per passenger numbers is, again, smart misdirection. Aurigny carries a lot of passengers compared to the Flybe Heathrow connection and what is more relevant to all of us footing the bills is how big the bill is in total.

States members and the public should continue to ask searching questions of Aurigny and not be put off by any talk of what subsidies are being paid elsewhere.

GEOFF MILLER

La Ramee Farmhouse,

Route de la Ramee,

St Peter Port.