Blue Islands have announced on April 15th that their new franchise partnership with UK carrier Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline will start operating on June 6th 2016 with seats on sale now for the first route to operate under the new partnership from Jersey to Southampton.
Under this agreement, the service will be operated on Flybe branded ATR aircraft with Flybe flight numbers and tickets that can be booked online through Flybe’s website. This means that Blue Islands users will benefit from more routes from Flybe’s portfolio. Other routes to be operated under the new franchise agreement will be available for booking in the coming weeks with the next flight being Guernsey to Southampton.
Rob Veron, Blue Islands’ Managing Director said: “Flybe’s extensive marketing bandwidth spanning a wide range of sales distribution channels will enable Guernsey and Jersey to enjoy increased exposure to potential new visitors, boosting the economies of both islands. Travel from the islands will also become easier with ‘through tickets’ allowing seamless connections to UK and European destinations throughout the Flybe network including Aberdeen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Belfast, and Amsterdam as well as summer destinations such as Faro and Malaga.”
Saad Hammad, Flybe CEO said: “This news benefits customers from the beginning of summer with a greater choice of connections to UK and European destinations. It is a win-win for both airlines. For Flybe, our brand will retain a presence on key routes to and from the Channel Islands and, for Blue Islands, the alliance is a major opportunity in being a recognised brand of Europe’s largest regional airline.”
Mr Veron added: “When all routes are on sale, visitors and Channel Islanders alike will benefit from a huge choice of UK and European ‘through ticket’ connections to and from Guernsey via Southampton and to and from Jersey via London City and Southampton. Together with significant APD (Air Passenger Duty) savings, ‘through tickets’ offer the peace of mind and security of ‘connecting’ services, rather than the uncertainty of purchasing individual ‘point-to-point’ flights. What’s more, the single terminals of London City and Southampton remove the hassle of transferring between flights at larger airports.”
The deal was finalised at the ERA conference in Prague.