Blue Islands urges travellers to give feedback on inter-island timings

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Blue Islands is urging business travellers to give their feedback on their inter-island schedule timing consultation survey after a previous one received just under 100 responses.

The number of responses received was too small for the company to draw any conclusions so they have decided to re-launch their consultation in order to give customers a second chance to air their opinions.

Rob Veron, Blue Islands CEO, explained that the sample wasn't large enough to base a change of schedule on and wasn't representative of the inter-island business travel market. He added that the company is market-led and will respond to what their customers tell them. The responses that were received during the first consultation will count toward the next result. 

In March, the airline boosted inter-island capacity by 48% at peak morning times in each direction on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, when business customers have historically chosen to travel.

Mr Veron said: “Adding a larger 68-seat ATR 72 aircraft was in response to the demand for peak services from business travellers. Further to this capacity enhancement, we want to operate schedules our business customers find most convenient to maximise their working day and naturally we are very happy to alter the current timings if enough customers tell us they want to fly at different times.

“Blue Islands is committed to the inter-island route, and through consultations like these we can make it more convenient than ever to travel between Guernsey and Jersey.”

Blue Islands is also engaging with the Chambers of Commerce on both islands as they say they understand the significant role inter-island travel plays in leisure travel including sport. Both Chambers have urged customers to fill in the survey.

Gillian Martindale-Parsons, chief executive of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said: “Inter-island connectivity is a vital link for businesses with existing offices in both islands and those companies looking to develop leads. In order to ensure our providers are meeting the demands of commerce, it’s important commerce provide an insight into their travel requirements and surveys such as this will help provide that knowledge.”

John O’Neill, Guernsey Chamber of Commerce director, said the group endorsed creating tailored and effective Channel Island air links. He said the Chamber had received over 700 responses to its own recent islands Infrastructure Survey. He said: “I would encourage as many people as possible to take part in this survey as Chamber has already identified the need for closer links between the islands’ business communities. It would provide valuable insight if that level of interest was replicated in determining what type of air links are needed between Jersey and Guernsey.”