RE: Easyjet new route

It was great to have Emerald, they really did cause prices to fall.

Unfortunately the “manx mafia” of vested interests was upset by the damage caused to Manx Airlines’ results and Emerald felt that it had no choice but to concentrate on a freight contract which was offered to it.

I would certainly say that the use of little turboprops is worrying, as airlines subsequently find it difficult to offer cheap prices due to each single seat being significant in a revenue context. The future for small island communities has got to be P2P links with major centres, such as IOM-AMS and IOM-CDG. Unfortunately (and JER and GCI are in the same positon) there is a simple choice between a lowco carrier using 737’s for a handful (2 or 3) of routes, or BA or Flybe offering lots of routes with good timings.

A possible solution is for a joint venture airline to be developed between someone like BA or BMI and the local governments, where a subsidy is offered on every seats. IOM, JER and GCI can certainly all afford to do this.