Blue Islands (SI, Jersey) is planning to terminate some of its flights connecting Jersey and Guernsey following the granting of an air transport licence to a local competitor, Waves (Guernsey), Guernsey Press has reported.
"We remain of the view there was already ample competition on the route between Blue Islands and flybe. (2002) The oversupply into the market was already vast, with Blue Islands’ services running, on average, half full," Blue Islands CEO Rob Veron has said.
The carrier has not announced the details of the planned cuts yet. Veron, however, has warned the industry against a price war which would repeat a situation from a few years ago when Blue Islands competed fiercely with Aurigny Air Services, leading to both carriers losing money.
Blue Islands will now apply to the Transport Licensing Authority to have all restrictions removed from its air operator's certificate (AOC) which would allow it to alter schedules in comparison to the current offer.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Blue Islands currently operates 32x weekly flights between Jersey and Guernsey, all of them under a franchise agreement with flybe. using ATR - Avions de Transport Régional turboprop aircraft. For its part, flybe. itself operates the route 12x weekly with Dash 8-400s.
Blue Islands had previously tried to block Waves' development after it successfully argued in January that the start-up was, in reality, a scheduled operator and should, therefore, undergo full certification procedures. Waves subsequently applied for an air transport licence but only obtained it at the end of March 2018. It has yet to announce its planned schedule between the islands.
