Isles of Scilly council forced to raise landing fees at St Mary airport
Bosses at a tiny island airport dependent on tourism to make ends meet say they have been forced to increase fees to secure its future.
The airport at St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly has suffered a downturn of just over a fifth in visitor numbers in the last five years. The island's unitary authority, which owns the airport, said fees and charges to transport operators had not plugged the gap in finances and they must now go up.
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Isles of Scilly council forced to raise landing fees at St Mary airport
A spokesman for the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, which operates Skybus, the only scheduled airplane service to the islands, said: "The company is not in a position to comment at this time."
Dudley Mumford, chairman of the Council of the Isles of Scilly transport committee, said it was a tough decision.
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"We regret the need to increase fees at the airport," he said. "But have had to make this difficult decision in recognition of the importance of creating a financially viable, fully functioning and safe airport and to ensure that we secure the long-term viability of our air links to the mainland."
He added: "The council is engaging with aviation experts to review our costs and advise on any savings we can make and any additional income streams available".
Mr Mumford said the increases to fees and charges would ensure that it was properly financed, managed and maintained in the future.
The decision means the fee to transport operators for landing each passenger will increase by £1.50 and landing fees increased by £2 per tonne – which means a rise of £6 for Islander aircraft, one of the commonest sights on the runway, which weighs around three tonnes.
This means that the gross charges for landing each passenger will go up from £7.42 for 2012/13 to £9.22, while the landing fee charge for an Islander plane will increase from £36.10 to £43.31.
Mr Mumford said the airport's income and resources had "steadily decreased" in the last five years as passenger numbers fell by 21%.
He said there were insufficient funds available to finance improvements to the airport, including essential work to replace the runways.
The councillor added that, although the authority was actively working to secure funding to replace the runways and improve the airport, there was no guarantee that grants would be forthcoming.
A spokesman for the Isles of Scilly Council said borrowing the money would still have a financial impact.
"The grant funding needed to improve the airport and runways is a significant capital subsidy," he said.
"If the full £6 million required for these works were borrowed over 20 years, this would result in a repayment totalling £9.1 million.
"This repayment would mean that the council would have to increase its revenue from landing fees by £460,000 per year."
2 Comments
by john489
Monday, March 11 2013, 4:00PM
“I HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS THAT UNLESS PRICES WERE AT AN AFFORDABLE LEVEL FOR UK INHABITANTS,THEY WOULD SPEND THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY ON CHEAPER HOLIDAYS,AND,A BETTER CHANCE OF SUNSHINE AND WARMTH.NO DOUBT THE RELATIVELY SMALL INCREASE IN LANDING FEES WILL BE MET BY A LOT MORE IN PASSENGER FEES,AND,OF COURSE,LESS TOURISTS WILL MEAN ALREADY HIGH PRICES BEING MADE HIGHER TO BALANCE THE BOOKS,AS BENNY-55 SAYS,IT'S THE ISLANDERS WHO WILL SUFFER MOST”
by Benny-55
Wednesday, February 20 2013, 10:49PM
“For several months the comments on 'Scilly Today' have been showing that tourists are stopping their visits to Scilly because of the pricing of transport and accommodation being too high. They are not one-off tourists but visitors who have been going to the islands for 20 or 30 years. Holidays abroad are now much cheaper than Scilly and flying abroad is cheaper than the 28 miles to Scilly. It was pointed out by a few 'ex-visitors' that a monopoly of transport would work against Scilly as prices would increase and this is being proved. I feel sorry for the inhabitants of these lovely islands as they will all be the losers as well as the tourists who have decided to visit islands abroad because they are so much cheaper.The islands need to be subsidised and the local 'hosts' need to lower their pricing to get back the people who were loyal to them for so long. You can only push people so far before they rebel and this is obviously what is happening on a large scale. Greed will destroy the islands if it is left unharnessed. Act now! It is much better to have 50 people paying £100 than 10 people paying £200. Numbers of tourists count.
Some of the tourist comments on these links:
http://tinyurl.com/axpuf47
http://tinyurl.com/avlgnz4”