Economic Development has again refused to disclose the value of the subsidy it is paying British Airways to fly to and from Guernsey once per day – even though Aurigny is blaming that service for some of its forecast £10million loss this year.
The States owned airline flies multiple routes to and from Guernsey including the protected inter island services and the lifeline links with Gatwick and Southampton.
It recently confirmed its losses are estimated to reach £10m for this year with next year’s losses already forecast to hit £6m.
Aurigny blamed this on rising fuel prices due to the war in Iran, “weakening market demand”, and the impact of the States-subsidised BA run Heathrow service.
The Committee for Economic Development gave BA a subsidy to fly here, starting earlier this year, but has always refused to disclose the amount, previously saying it is commercially sensitive.
ED President, Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller has confirmed they do monitor the impact of this subsidy and the BA service on other providers, but she is satisfied that it does offer “excellent value”.
“While the Committee remains unable to disclose the level of the route development support due to contractual and commercial confidentiality reasons, we continue to closely monitor the incentive and in particular its impact on achieving passenger volumes and an increase in visitor numbers,” she said. “It continues to offer excellent value for money.
“The Committee is very pleased with the current results shown by the Heathrow route and in particular the number of visitors that it is attracting to Guernsey, helping to contribute to 2026 being the record year for visitor numbers since Covid.
“The route development incentive for Heathrow compares favourably to other incentives currently in play.”
The British Airways service launched earlier this year, offering a lunchtime flight from London to Guernsey and an immediate return, seven days per week.
It was the first time commercial flights were offered between Heathrow and Guernsey in six years – after a previous States subsidised Flybe service stopped when the airline went bust during the covid pandemic.
