What is going on with Air Alderney ?

Founded on the 31st of January 2017, Air Alderney is a planned carrier for Alderney, part of the Channel Islands (a group of islands in the Channel that belong to the United Kingdom). It was hoping to commence services in September 2017, but couldn’t. Although it received its AOC in late 2019, the airline still hasn’t been able to commence operations. Some sources say that Air Alderney will launch some services next month. The Channel Islands have always been a difficult place to be based in for airlines. Runways that are small, lack of people and competition makes it tough for airlines to set up there. Let’s take the example of Waves, an airline based in Guernsey that ceased operations 2 years ago. It received its AOC in September 2017 and started flights in November 2017 between Guernsey and Jersey, as well as flights between Guernsey and Alderney. Then, Blue Islands, a scheduled airline based in Guernsey filed a lawsuit against Waves, announcing that the airline was operating illegaly because Waves deemed itself as an “air taxi” operator, something that was apparently not included in their licence . Because of this, the airline was forced to change its business model to letting its customers hire their aircraft. In March 2018, the TLA (the Transport Licencing Authority) regave Waves the right to operate scheduled flights from Guernsey to Alderney and Jersey. Later on in the year, in June, the airline had to temporarily suspend its services due to a maintenance issue. September 2018: liquidation of Waves. It seems to me that setting up an airline in the Channel Islands and having it succeed is very difficulty. Then again, the Channel Islands are hardly popular tourist destinations but it still doesn’t make sense. If anybody knows why setting up an airline in the Channel Islands is so tough, please just write by commenting below. I will gladly reply. 13th of May 2020.

Why ?

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