Wednesday 04 September 2024
General Update
The duties and responsibilities of the Transport Licensing Authority are limited to the determination of applications for air route licenses.
Under the quasi-open skies policy approved by the States, a Guernsey air transport licence is only required by airlines that operate routes that are designated as lifeline routes and these are the Alderney, Gatwick and Southampton routes.
I can report that no applications for Guernsey air transport licences have been received by the Authority for any of these lifeline routes since the last statement.
Members will be aware that Aurigny has experienced operational difficulties this year. As I have said, the responsibilities of the Authority are limited to matters relating to air transport licensing and therefore the extent to which it could engage with Aurigny is confined to the licences held by the airline for lifeline routes to the UK - London Gatwick and Southampton.
The Authority held meetings to consider this issue, including a joint meeting with representatives of the STSB and Aurigny in order to determine whether the airline had complied with the conditions of the licences that it holds for those routes when services were affected. I can confirm that during the periods that were reviewed, Aurigny had complied with the licence conditions.
Blue Islands operates services on the Southampton route in addition to Aurigny. In order to get a full picture of activities on that route, the Authority has also engaged with Blue Islands regarding the services that it provides and is satisfied that it has also complied with the conditions of the licence that it holds for that route.
For the avoidance of doubt, under the current air transport policies, only lifeline routes require an air transport licence and therefore the Authority had no mandate to review services on any other routes.
The Authority has asked both Aurigny and Blue Islands for additional information on the services that they provide on UK lifeline routes and it has also asked to set up a regular reporting arrangement with the airlines.