Heathrow air link to be axed
Thursday 15th January 2009, 2:59PM GMT.
JERSEY is to lose its Heathrow air link in March.
The news came on the day that the UK government was expected to approve the building of a third runway at the west London airport. Airline bmi are axeing the route two years to the day after it was launched in a fanfare heralding the reinstatement of the service from the Island to Britain’s busiest airport.
Flights will end on 28 March and there seems no prospect of any other airline being willing to step into the breach.
As part of a deal to secure the reinstatement of the route, bmi has been receiving money from the States as a subsidy.
No figures were ever given publicly, but the total amount for all route development budgeted for 2009 by Economic Development is about £875,000. There was speculation that the deal was £500,000 a year, but that has never been confirmed. Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean said that a combination of change in ownership of bmi, deteriorating market conditions and poor economic prospects had led to the airline’s decision to withdraw.
Senator Maclean said that he was saddened by the loss of Heathrow.
• The Heathrow route was reinstated after Bmi started a service in March 2007
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Hardly surprising! BMI will argue that the numbers of passengers didn’t support the route, but I suspect changing the flight late last year to a much smaller aircraft and flying the route at times of day which were utterly useless for both business travellers and long haul connections was actually a plan to “make” the route fail.
Maybe our government in light of this news as well as EasyJet and HD Ferries will now consider that if they are going to subsidise landing slots or issue ramp licenses they will enforce strict service level agreements with these companies that allow the full reimbursement of any subsidies paid if the service is ceased after say less than 5 years. Unfortunately for all these companies, their commitment is to their shareholders pockets and not the transport needs of Jersey.
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The States have better things to spend their money on than subsidising a failed route.
Let market forces prevail.
They would be better off reducing to landing fees or passenger taxes for all, not just a select few. That would benefit us locals trying to get away, and make it more attractive for people wanting to come here.
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agree with you andrew,everything over here has taken a turn for the worse,we are going backwards instead of forwards had a much better service with both flying and ferying years ago than we have now.we have put up with bad services from every quarter and wonder why people are fed up with it.
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This route was doomed from day one.
No business person would take this flight if they had a meeting in London due to the time it took to get from boarding the plane in Jersey to getting out the doors at Heathrow.
Plus holiday makers and travellers were treated badly at Heathrow by its staff.
The States funded this route to the tune of at least half a million pounds a year and now find themselves cut short again by another operator!
What next…Connex pulling out might me a good idea?
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Hardly a surprise, what with sky high fares together with rubbish flight times, first flight arrives from Jersey to Heathrow at 2.00pm missing lots of connections, and no use for a day trip.
Sadly it was designed to fail. Should ever it come back in 2020?? It will need to be a better service.
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This route was always doomed because BMI never had any intention of keeping it for the long term. A slot at LHR is very valuable and if the airlines don’t use them they lose them. When a slot comes up and they can’t decide exactly what to use it for, the airline will park it on some route that just about washes its face until they agree an alternative route that will be much more profitable for them. A good question to ask BMI is, “which route is now taking that slot at LHR?”.
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will there be job losses now ?
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What a big shame about loosing the Heathrow route they have such a good service and the bmi really look after there custombers not like some that don’t care and are always cancelling and delaying flights I’ve used them ever such a lot and with peace of mind the only time they got delayed was not there fault it was when there was a fire at the airport, we were all sat in the plane for two hours because the info they had been waiting for was so bad from Jersey airport they waited for clairence that just never came and the poor pilot hang on with false promises from jersey at first telling him that it was only smoke and it will be clear soon which didn’t happen they were really good and it wasn’t there fault at all, the other ones are not as good as that no names mentions just guess
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Well you see this is how it works. No airlines give a monkey about routes to Jersey. What they really really like is Slots into LHR. Ah you see, BMI are laughing! Make a few quid on the side in Jersey thanks to the states, drop the route and hey presto! A nice available slot in London that they ‘own’ and can operate to where they want! Hooray for the States not understanding a thing. Yet again the wool pulled over their eyes!!
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i guess by axing this route its just another way for the states to try and keep us here! and with the announcement this on re Flybe having probs you can see where this will lead soon we will have on cheap/cost effective flights or even no flights at all in and out! so makes me wonder why they spent so much money (over budget) doing the aiport up!
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It is a great shame that BMI will be stopping the London Heathrow Route to Jersey. It was so convenient for passengers who live near to the airport, also for holidaymakers continuing their connecting flights on longhaul routes which are mainly from Heathrow. By going back to Gatwick or other airports in the surrounding London areas you have the great inconvenience of getting to Heathrow from these other airports. The only way to get to Heathrow from Gatwick and other airports is by coach/or a very costly taxi service in which they have no alternative that they have to use the M25, which is one huge carpark as far as the traffic goes! I feel this is another backward step.
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I can tell you from experience british midland as it was known was a very good airline I used them for years to get to scotland either direct or via east midland and they always left at midday,every day ,it was a pleasure to fly then you could bring as much luggage as you liked and always had a good meal on board,it was only when these low priced airlines started they had no options but to join them,so standards started to slip and when you compare to all these add-ons the cheap airlines are not so cheap now I find travelling very stressful ,with all the hassle at the airport.im sure many more feel the same and think twice about travelling as many airlines no longer care about the public in general.
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Take off and landing slots at Heathrow are very valuable, so airlines will use them for routes that generate the highest profits.
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Using the LHR slots for the highest profits is acceptable when operating without support. The Jersey Taxpayer has been subsidizing BMI to the tune of between £500,000 to £800,000 pa, which was implemented by the States to account for any shortfalls in margins. I feel this should now be reimbursed as the agreed contract has been broken.
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BMI’s flight times were poor which didn’t help matters but at the same time, the service was poorly supported by the public so public money or not, it’s hardly surprising that BMI have decided to stop flying empty aircraft to Jersey and Heathrow
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I’ve booked a flight with BMI to your beautiful island on May 29. Alas I now have to contend with the run around with BMI, as they tell me these flights have are not cancelled officially and I won’t know anything further until mid to end of February … tooo late for ME! Can anyone tell me what is the source for this story … is there any chance it could be rescinded.
Pat from Canada
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The answer to this is simple – regardless of how you view i The Airport is a public service…it is vital for business and tourism. Reduce the cost of landing in Jersey to £ZERO – let market forces prevail and lets have a leaner airport that attracts airlines and tourists to Jersey. It can never make sense that it is cheaper to fly to Spain than to Jersey.
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For years the public moaned that the States should do something to reinstate a Heathrow route, and they eventually managed to achieve that – hats off to them. The new schedule was never well supported even with decent morning flights, but sometimes you have to try new strategies. It is of course a shame that the routse has closed but at least we now know that Jersey didn’t desperately need this after all. I hope this doesn’t put Economic Development off further initiatives like this one.
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Maybe my friends and I have contributed by always choosing to fly ‘home’ via Gatwick rather than Heathrow but flying via Gatwick (with BA) is simply less stressful and irritating, you arrive straight into the Gate you’ll leave from and don’t have to bother going through security at Gatwick. Mind you it’s a while since I’ve done the Heathrow route.
Still, as one who needs to fly ‘home’ for various big events this year I guess it’s going to be a highly expensive one and I won’t be able to take an actual holiday at all.
Pat, I don’t know, but from their site tonight it simply says “Please note our service from Jersey to London Heathrow will cease from 28 March 2009.” I guess it’s possible they’re trying to strike a deal with another airline for existing bookings like yours?
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I too have a flight booked. My connections are all arranged ect from Heathrow……..when will they let us know where we stand.If its to be a refund,the cost of flights will have gone up considerably,the longer they leave us wondering what they are going to do regarding bookings made in good faith .
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