Loganair has 'very positive' talks over air route

Mr Farajallah confirmed Jersey would remain Loganair's priority in the Channel Islands

The Loganair chief executive has said talks with Guernsey have been "very positive" but the airline would not "fight to break into the market".

Guernsey's government has been in discussions with Loganair about the possibility of the airline running the inter-island route on a long-term basis.

Luke Farajallah said a meeting on Wednesday with Guernsey's President of the Committee for Economic Development, Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, was a "really good first session".

Despite this, Mr Farajallah confirmed Jersey would remain its priority in the Channel Islands.

He said: "To my mind it was a very positive meeting and we were able to introduce the airline, outline some of the plans that we've got.

"To my mind it was a really good meeting of minds, a really good first session and I look forward to meeting them again in the future.

He said: "If I'm being really honest, I think Guernsey is an interesting jurisdiction but it is, if I look at it purely through airline optics, a very small market – 65,000-67,000 people, of whom a percentage want to travel, others don't.

"By far and away the larger of the two populations is in Jersey and our aspiration was always Jersey."

The airline boss said he was open to expanding the airline's initial plans and said: "These were routes that were existing with Blue Islands and if we happen to do those in the future – great.

"If we don't, it doesn't change fundamentally our aspirations for Jersey because there's still a wonderful market there to be utilised.

"Guernsey is a very interesting market. It's a neighbour of Jersey and I only hesitate slightly because the size of the market is very small… I'm not going to fight to break into the market because we don't need to do that."

Deputy Kazantseva-Miller said it was "very useful to discuss the opportunities Loganair sees in the Bailiwick"

Following the talk, Loganair confirmed it would be applying for a licence to run the air route from Guernsey to Jersey, which will be required from 15 January.

Airline Aurigny also confirmed it would be applying for an inter-island licence.

Mr Farajallah said he would welcome multiple airlines operating the route and did not have concerns about what this would mean for profitability.

Kazantseva-Miller described talks with Loganair as "constructive" and said it was "very useful to discuss the opportunities Loganair sees in the Bailiwick".

She added: "It is vital that we protect, and improve, our air links in Guernsey, including building greater resilience, and so the committee continues to look at every opportunity carefully."