Delays ground Alderney-Jersey air link

Monday 30 December 2019

The launch of a new air link between Alderney and Jersey has been pushed back by at least three months due to a licencing issue.

Air Alderney announced in December that it would be launching direct flights to and from Jersey in February 2020.

However, Company Chairman Danny Brem-Wilson, now says that take-off is being postponed due to a misunderstanding about the validity of the route licences with the States of Alderney. 

Pictured: Travellers will have to wait a bit longer for a Jersey-Alderney route.

He claims that licences already obtained two years ago should in theory still be valid – but the States of Alderney say otherwise – resulting in a delay of around three to four months whilst new licences are applied for. 

Mr Brem-Wilson has applied for licences for passenger and cargo services to Jersey, Lee on Solent and Cherbourg, and a cargo licence for Guernsey.

Air Alderney is in the process of acquiring two Islander aircrafts to work the routes and aims to join forces with an operator called Airtask Group, which holds a commercial Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and runs services in the Shetland and Hebrides, using Islanders. Air Alderney has not yet succeeded in gaining its own AOC for a fixed wing aircraft. 

Air Alderney was issued a permit to operate a passenger and freight service to Jersey and a service to Guernsey by the Alderney Air Transport Licensing Board in March 2018. The application was made to operate a helicopter on those routes. 

Pictured: The States of Alderney have said that the original route licenses have since expired.

Mr Brem-Wilson admitted he was disappointed that the start date would now be delayed and he questioned whether the States had acted properly by not sending him a letter to say that the routes licences he had previously been granted were no longer active.

"The States has asked us to do another application for the routes so it's going to drag the process out by three to four months,” Mr Brem-Wilson told Express. 

"If it wasn't for that we could start tomorrow. We've set up an office at the Flying Club in Jersey. We've asked for both fixed wing, to use the Islanders, and a helicopter as aircraft listed on the licence."

States Chief Executive Officer Andrew Muter said the licences previously awarded to Air Alderney were issued on the basis that operations would commence within six months of being granted. Route licences were also issued to specific aircraft and AOC’s and the previous licences were for a helicopter.

"The recent Air Route Licence applications made by Air Alderney are made on the basis of specific aircraft and a different Air Operator Certificate. The appropriate due diligence is now being carried out before the Air Route Licence applications are considered by the Air Transport Route Licensing Board."