BLUE ISLANDS
 

ATR 42 G-ZEBS c/n 066 ex F-HBSO registered to Blue Islands yesterday.

ATR42-320
 

Are we presuming the G-DRFC that collapsed earlier this year is beyond repair / being replaced?

In Blue Islands' recent GCI-BRS route applicate it stated under contingency plans that the airline will have 2 ATR 42-320s and one -500 to cover operations by winter 2011 should the Jet stream fleet be unavailable. So, perhaps expansion?

Once again Blue want a slice of someone elses route, GCI-BRS will not support two carriers. It is about time this self proclaimed CI airline tried to grow the GCI market with some NEW routes instead of try always to nibble at GR. I bet GCI-MAN is net on the shopping list.

To be fair towards Blue Islands, they have done well between Jersey and Bristol and passenger numbers are up by quite a significant amount. I would imagine Blue Islands want to replicate this success in Guernsey.

I agree there are other options for route growth from Guernsey that could be explored – perhaps Cardiff, Leeds/Bradford or London City – but if Blue Islands operate the route twice daily as they do from Jersey, I am sure it will be popular with business people and locals.

Of course, Jersey was underserved from Bristol, with Flybe only operating a 5 times a week service, however, passengers numbers on the Guernsey to Bristol route have been declining for a number of years, and if Blue Islands can increase demand then I think competition should be welcomed.

You would probably have a shock if you knew how many GCI people elect to fly to/from BRS via JER with Blue Islands!

No. 66

Another "new" old a/c.

And if they don't get the Bristol route? Put it on the Southampton or how about GCI to LCY?

Ooh no that would be a new route for Guernsey, shock horror!

New Routes
 

It's great hearing everyone talk about "NEW" Guernsey routes but you are forgetting 1 major factor. The states of Guernsey control who flies where and OWN Aurigny !! On the grape vine ive heard that Blue Islands considered applying for LCY but were basically told don't bother you wont get the slots. Have a look on the BI booking page you can book flights from GCI to Man,LCY,Bristol but all via Jersey as BI only have the licence for GCI to Jersey. Any route that takes passengers from the Aurginy routes will be turned down IE LCY as all companies at the moment have to use Gatwick (Aurginy or Flybe) to get to london. When Flybe tried to renew their GCI - Manchester licence it was not renewed as Flybe wanted a summer only service. Yet when Air Berlin apply to fly from Europe to Guernsey Summer only they are allowed. Could this be as Aurigny dont operate to German etc.. yet do fly to Manchester.
What Guernsey need to do is have an open skies policy. If enough people want a route run and it makes money then it will work. If that airline then charges to much people wont use it and the airline will pull out so it will be in the best intrest of the airlines to keep prices fair. Lets see easy jet and BA come to Guernsey.
A lot of talk is about runway lenght etc.. but Guernseys runway can already handle the E175's that Flybe have started to get, have had 737's and Airbus A319's land here in the past and once the runway re surfacing and strenghtening is finished next year will be able to take the E195's in wet and dry (currently restricted to dry conditions only).
Oh and 1 last note in the new "States of Guernsey" the Treasury Minister who controls the purse strings is also a Director of Aurigny so guess where all states members have been told to book business travel with !! Not sure if a states member would spend our taxes on a £250 Aurigny ticket or £125 flybe one ? I dont work for the airlines and have no preference when flying except which ever is cheapest but to keep prices down the more competion the better it works fine in Jersey they have an amazing flight network set up lets see it over here.

BA pulled out of Guernsey. Don't you remember why Aurigny ended up being owned by the states? And if Easyjet had even hinted at the possibility of operating into GCI, do you not think we would have heard about it.
Even with an open skies policy, I doubt we will get any of the major carriers bothering to turn up because the passenger numbers just would not be there.

If i remember BA didn't quite pull out. If i remember correctly at the time BA had Gatwick slots and Aurigny flew to Amsterdam. A deal was done to swap slots between the 2. Even back then Flybe / British European / JEA what ever they were then were flying GCI - LGW. What we also have to remember is Gatwick is under new mangerment and it wont be long before they squeeze the smaller airlines out like Aurigny. As you quite rightly say Easyjet / BA may not be interested on GCI-LGW on its own but what about a triangular route with Jersey to increase the load factors. Soon airports are only going to want bigger aircraft earning them more money - its sad to say but small regional airlines have had their time. I cant see Aurigny / BI ever running 737's / A319's just to keep gatwick slots. Guernsey need bigger aircraft from bigger airlines which can fit Guernsey into their flight network.

Around 63,000 people live on Guernsey. The idea that it can sustain much traffic, or on large aircraft, is fanciful. The low population is the reason why Aurigny exists, and is in the hands of the States Government.
Tourism would be insufficient to support more than a weekly summer service from most places.

Guern123 - Blue Islands would have been awared the LCY route if they had bothered to apply, The States Of GCI will give a licence to any new route - FACT. However at the time Mr Coates thought his airline was above having to bother with that sort of thing (route applications) & hence LCY out of GCI was a non starter. I also seem to remember him stating that he wouldn't start any "new" routes out of GCI until it had an open skies policy & now here we have him applying for BRS!

G-ZEBS
 

G-ZEBS the new (old) ATR arrived in Bournemouth this afternoon for painting

Is this an addition or a replacement? If so, where will it be used?

Any indication that Blue Islands will consider increasing frequency/or aircraft size on the BOH-JER/GCI route?

Surely it isn't sustainable to have tu,th,sa flights (possibly the weakest days of the week in terms of demand) on these services. They don't compete at all with Flybe at SOU.

"They don't compete at all with Flybe at SOU."

They don't need the BOH flights to compete at SOU, since they fly 3 x daily to both islands from SOU.

How is the Blue Islands service to/from Bournemouth doing?? Is it likely to get any increase in frequency??

If the 'new' ATR is an addition to the fleet then I could see it maybe going onto the SOU routes to improve SI's product and number of seats vs Flybe which in turn could free up a J32 to operate BOH daily from JER or 4 weekly/3 weekly alternating with GCI. Alternatively the route could stay around 3/4 weekly but on an ATR or even a Daily ATR in the Summer.

So many possibilities! Although I would consider them to be fairly realistic assuming there is space/capacity to do so.

Loads average about 10 / 13 on the Bournemouth flight using a 19 seater aircraft so i would not imagine its up for an increase just yet

That is a good point but a daily service does add some flexibility and makes the service more attractive to customers who would otherwise fly from SOU and in the summer at least I very much doubt they would struggle to get reasonable loads on a 19 seat J32.