A new Guernsey-Heathrow service will launch in April – but the once a day lunchtime rotation is causing some concern.
Further details about the new service are expected to be announced today after details were leaked by aviation analysts yesterday.
The British Airways tickets have now gone on sale – before the States of Guernsey has publicly confirmed they are happening – with prices for the inaugural flight starting at £91.
Ticket prices for later that same week start from £65.
The Heathrow to Guernsey flight is scheduled to leave London at 11:55 daily, arriving at 12:55.
The return flight on Saturday will leave Guernsey at 13:45, and arrive into Heathrow at 14:50 LHR while every other day the BA plane will depart five minutes later.
Many people are seeing the return of Heathrow flights after a five year absence as good news, with Alan Sillett of the Guernsey Hospitality Association posting on X that it is “great news for the island. Well done CfED and STSB”.
But, some business leaders and politicians have queried the lunchtime rotation with David Piesing asking on X whether “these specific slots are the right ones to subsidise” and that “if the LHR slots aren’t peak time then it won’t be viable”.
Deputy Yvonne Burford – a former pilot – has commented that peak time slots at Heathrow are very hard to come by – and that “the price of peak day return slots subsidy would be massive”.
The amount of subsidy – or discounts on landing fees or other incentives – has not yet been disclosed, with the States making no comment by the time of publication.
The last time Guernsey had a Heathrow link was in 2019 – when £850,000 was given to Flybe to operate the route.
Flybe went bust during the covid pandemic early in 2020.