Free flights a welcome boost for Guernsey tourism

Blue Islands airline has announced a radical new ‘free flights’ initiative to promote tourism in both Guernsey and Alderney. In this new plan, guests staying at the 4-star Braye Beach Hotel in Alderney and the 4 star Fermain Valley Hotel in Guernsey for two or more nights will enjoy complimentary return flights.

The boost to Alderney tourism begins with a free ticket offer to Guernsey residents taking place in the Guernsey Press over the next seven days. It will then be extended to Jersey two weeks later offering free flights to both Guernsey and Alderney. The third phase in a month’s time extends to 250,000 Healthspan customers in the south of England around Southampton, followed finally around the Bristol area once a licence is granted for Blue Islands to run their twice daily service in June. A similar free flights offer will be made available to all Alderney residents wishing to stay two nights at the Fermain Valley Hotel in Guernsey. The new initiative is designed to bring visitors to the Bailiwick, particularly in the quieter off-peak months.

Derek Coates, Chairman Blue Islands, explains; ‘the cost of travel to our islands is often cited as one the main barriers to tourism. By using our spare seats on Blue Islands we will be able to generate more business for our hotels. If demand exceeds supply, we will simply add more flights to our current schedule to make sure that we never have an empty hotel bed. Our Alderney hotel is quite idyllic and we are looking forward to lots of Guernsey residents taking advantage of these free flights offer to discover this jewel in our tourism crown.

The airline’s Trilanders will now be fully utilised to meet the increased traffic coming through Guernsey with connecting flights to Alderney. Given the expected demand from the Jersey promotion over the coming months it also anticipated that the airline will put on chartered flights direct from Jersey to Alderney. As a consequence some changes will be made to the airline’s schedules to free up aircraft to cope with increased passenger numbers. (from
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Hmmm..... what's the catch?