Blue Islands has called time on its codeshare agreement with Loganair – immediately after that it was announced that the two airlines will go head-to-head on the Jersey-Southampton route from next year.
Scottish carrier Loganair yesterday announced it was launching a daily jet service between the island and the south-coast airport from January.
Shortly after the news was released, incumbent Blue Airlines said it had served notice to Loganair to immediately end an agreement between the two airlines that allowed passengers to book a single ticket to destinations including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle, via Southampton.
The codeshare agreement was introduced in September 2020.
Blue Islands has today served notice to Loganair of the immediate termination of the codeshare agreement between the two airlines
Blue islands spokesperson
In a statement, Blue Islands said that existing bookings to connect between the airlines would be honoured and thanked staff from both airlines “who have worked to deliver for our mutual customers over the five years of the co-operation”.
It will be the first time airlines have competed on the Jersey-Southampton route since Flybe collapsed in March 2020, leaving Blue Islands as sole operator.
Competition was welcomed by the Jersey Consumer Council, which pointed out that – because Loganair is a UK-based carrier – it would have to pay compensation to delayed passengers, something that Channel Islands-based Blue Islands is not obliged to do.
Consumer Council chair Carl Walker said: “While Blue Islands has served Jersey passengers for many years and will hopefully continue to do so in the future, competition on the route will help ensure that both airlines provide reasonably priced airfares.
“As Loganair is based in the UK rather than the Channel Islands, the airline must comply with the UK’s rules on providing compensation to passengers whose journeys have been disrupted, which people can factor in when they are deciding which carrier to use.”
Loganair last flew to and from Jersey in 2021 but pulled out of the island, saying that poor customer demand had made its seasonal routes unviable.
Ports of Jersey CEO Matt Thomas said that the decision then – both to come to Jersey and then leave – had been mainly down to the pandemic and this week’s announcement was “more strategic”.
He added that, in the intervening years, Loganair had built itself up to be the UK’s biggest player in the ‘second-tier’ regional market – a title once held by Flybe.
He said: “We take Loganair’s announcement as a sign of confidence and strength in the Jersey market.
“Over the last six months, they have announced their intention to open a base in Southampton so connecting to the Island is a logical step.”
Mr Thomas added that any agreement between Ports of Jersey and Loganair would be commercially sensitive but, philosophically, Ports would not incentivise a route which already had an airline on it.
Loganair have said that it will fly an Embraer 145 jet on the route but have yet to announce the frequency of flights and ticket prices.
It is not uncommon for airlines to test a new route by starting with a small number of rotations and build up should demand grow.