Blue Islands

Blue Islands

IATA SI ICAO BCI Callsign BLUE ISLAND
Founded	1999
Operating bases	Guernsey Airport Jersey Airport
Focus cities	Isle of Man Airport Southampton Airport
Fleet size	6
Destinations	8
Parent company	Blue Islands Ltd
Headquarters	Saint Peter Port, Guernsey
Key people	Derek Coates (Chairman) Rob Veron (Managing Director)
Website	www.blueislands.com

Blue Islands Limited is an airline of the Channel Islands. Its head office is in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, and its registered office is in Saint Anne, Alderney. It operates scheduled services from and within the Channel Islands and the UK and the Isle of Man. Its main base of operations is Jersey Airport.

History

The airline was formally established in 2001 (but had been operating since 1999 as a small operation) by Le Cocq's Stores in Alderney and was initially known as Le Cocq's Airlink. It started operations carrying perishable goods from Bournemouth to Alderney. Scheduled services were added on the same route on 1 February 2002. The Rockhopper name was adopted on 29 August 2003. In 2004 ownership changed to Healthspan Leisure and in 2005, Jetstream aircraft were added to the fleet. The company moved its main operating base from Alderney to Jersey in January 2006. Its Headquarters is now at Healthspan House, The Grange, St. Peter Port, Guernsey. The airline is wholly owned by the Healthspan Group. The company changed the trading name from Rockhopper to Blue Islands on 14 February 2006. The move coincided with the delivery of the first of its new fleet of 19-seater BAe Jetstream aircraft and a new air link with the Isle of Man.

The deployment of the BAe Jetstream aircraft on inter-island services meant Blue Islands gained a majority share of the market from its competitor (according to Airliner World magazine), helped by the recent introduction of an hourly shuttle service between Guernsey and Jersey known as the Blue Shuttle. At December 2007, Blue Islands' estimated share of the inter-island market was reported to be over 50% and in December 2009 their market share had risen to 68%. Blue Islands went on to launch new routes from the Channel Islands to Paris-Beauvais (ceased July 2008), Southampton, Geneva and Zurich. However, by late 2010 their market share on the inter-island had fallen to below 50% and its main competitor Aurigny was regaining large shares in the Channel Islands market.

Blue Islands have been offering cargo services on all their flights throughout their network for a number of years. They flew in unique Madagascan birds for Durrell Conservation Wildlife Trust from Zurich during June 2009. In 2010 the airline added an ATR 42-320 and a Dornier 328-110 (leased from ScotAirways) to its fleet; the latter was retired shortly afterwards. It emerged in July 2010 that Blue Islands had launched a bid with the States of Guernsey to buy its competitor, Aurigny Air Services. This caused much controversy in the Channel Islands, and a Facebook page in opposition of proposed buy-out gained 530 members. Those in favour of the deal claimed that it was nonsensical for Aurigny and Blue Islands to continue making such huge annual losses. The failure of the deal was announced on 14 September 2010.

A number of changes took place in 2011. Rob Veron was appointed as chairman and the Trislander fleet was repainted and refitted for a planned new hub at Alderney with routes to Southampton and Cherbourg, however the application was denied because the start date was within six months of the application date. Blue Islands announced that a full withdrawal from Alderney would take place on 9 May 2011 (coincidentally Liberation Day), after 11 years of services.

In March 2011, it announced a new twice daily weekday route (with a once-daily flight on Sundays) from Jersey to London City Airport, and in April a route to Bristol was announced. Daily services were announced between Jersey and Manchester Airport in September, along with the restoration of a three times weekly service to Bournemouth Airport, in competition with the airline's own more regular services to Southampton, as well as those of Flybe. In November, the planned retirement of the Trislander fleet was made public with the last day of operations on 4 December. This was because they were 'too noisy, old and small' - however, it is not the first time that the Trislanders have been under offer; one aircraft left Blue Islands for Great Barrier Airlines in New Zealand in March 2008, whilst the other two aircraft were under offer from an unnamed Caribbean airline in September 2010.

Destinations

Dornier 328-110 in Blue Islands livery making its approach into Zürich

Blue Islands operates the following services (as of November 2011):

†	Base
‡	Focus City

City	Country	Region	IATA	ICAO	Airport	Ref	Notes
Bournemouth	United Kingdom	Western Europe	BOH	EGHH	Bournemouth Airport
Bristol	United Kingdom	Western Europe	BRS	EGGD	Bristol Airport
Cambridge	United Kingdom	Western Europe	CBG	EGSC	Cambridge Airport
Geneva	Switzerland	Western Europe	GVA	LSGG	Geneva International Airport
Guernsey	Guernsey	Western Europe	GCI	EGJB	Guernsey Airport †		Base
Isle of Man	Isle of Man	Western Europe	IOM	EGNS	Isle of Man Airport ‡		Focus City
Jersey	Jersey	Western Europe	JER	EGJJ	Jersey Airport †		Base
London	United Kingdom	Western Europe	LCY	EGLC	London City Airport
Manchester	United Kingdom	Western Europe	MAN	EGCC	Manchester Airport
Southampton	United Kingdom	Western Europe	SOU	EGHI	Southampton Airport ‡		Focus City
Zürich	Switzerland	Western Europe	ZRH	LSZH	Zürich Airport

Former Destinations

It also used to serve these destinations:

• United Kingdom
  • England
• Biggin Hill Airport
• Cardiff Airport
• Shoreham Airport (Brighton City)

• Bailiwick of Guernsey
  • Alderney
• Alderney Airport

• France
• Cherbourg Airport
• Paris Beauvais Tillé Airport
• Saint-Brieuc – Armor Airport

Fleet

The Blue Islands fleet includes the following aircraft (as of November 2011).

Current Fleet

Aircraft	In Fleet	Order	Passengers
BAe Jetstream 32	4	0	19
ATR 42-320	1	0	46
ATR 42-500	1	0	48
Total	6	0

Retired

Retired Fleet

Aircraft	In Fleet	Years of Service	Passengers
Britten-Norman Trislander	3	2001-2011	16
Britten-Norman Islander	4	1999-2011	8
Dornier 328	1	2007-2009	32

Accidents and Incidents

• On 7 June 2006, Trislander G-LCOC was taking off from Saint Brieuc, but shortly after takeoff there was a loud bang. On inspection after landing the pilot found that the baggage door had been forced inwards into its aperture. The locking mechanism functioned normally and it is likely that the door was not secured properly by ground handling staff prior to departure. Blue Islands changed ground handling procedures to avoid a repeat occurrence.

• On 18 July 2010, ATR 42 G-DRFC was cleared to line up on runway 28 and wait at Zurich Airport. Meanwhile, a Thai Airways Airbus A340-600 on flight TG971 from Zurich to Bangkok, was cleared for takeoff from runway 16, read the takeoff clearance correctly back and began their takeoff run. However, the Blue Islands crew mistook the permission for their own and commenced take-off roll. They claimed to have read back the clearance but it was not picked up by air traffic control or recording stations. A British Airways Airbus A319-100 on flight BA713 from Zurich to London Heathrow (which was about to depart), observed the scene from the holding point north of runway 28. The crew saw the potential for a crash and alerted air traffic control. The Blue Islands aircraft was immediately radioed to stop, and having reached 74 knots (86 mph) it slowed and exited the runway 630m short of where the Thai aircraft was taking off. The incident was classified as serious by Swiss authorities. Nobody was harmed.

• On 3 April 2011, ATR 42 G-DRFC was flying from Geneva to Jersey with 46 passengers on board when communication was lost. The airline claimed that this was a brief period (generally around 20 seconds) when the captain was changing radio frequency. However, two French Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jets were scrambled and escorted the aircraft until radio contact was re-established.

• On 6 April 2011, Jetstream 31 G-ISLB was 10 minutes into a flight from Southampton to Guernsey when the aircraft developed a problem with its starboard engine (a TPE331). It was shut down and the aircraft returned to Southampton for a safe landing. Nobody was injured and passengers were booked onto a later flight.

• On 25 November 2011, Trislander G-LCOC (carrying 13 passengers) had landed at Guernsey Airport after flight from Jersey and turned off the runway. However, the nosewheel steering failed and the aircraft ran onto the grass next to the taxiway. All passengers were unharmed and taken to the terminal, and the plane was later recovered and returned to service with no damage as a result of the incident.

External links

• Media related to Blue Islands at Wikimedia Commons
• Blue Islands
• Photos of Rockhopper aircraft
• CI Aviation

Further reading

• Pinnegar, Edward (July 2010). A History of Aviation in Alderney. Amberley Publishing, Stroud. pp. 128. ISBN 978-1848689817.