Channel Island specialist tour operator Sunair Vakanties has announced that they will be increasing the flight capacity from the Netherlands to Guernsey in 2019.

They will start a direct service from Groningen Airport Eelde in April 2019. Groningen is the regional airport in the North of the country. This service is in addition to their existing charter operation from Rotterdam in The Hague.

Marc Van Amsterdam, Managing Director Sunair said,

After conducting some thorough research we came to the conclusion that there is high potential from the North and North East of the country. Furthermore, the research also showed that our current target audience is present in this area but do not currently use the existing Rotterdam service.

Mike Hopkins, Director of Marketing & Tourism, VisitGuernsey said

The Dutch market is very important to our visitor economy and, working with Sunair our Dutch tour operator partner, is a market we are keen to grow and develop further. We are therefore delighted to see the introduction next year of the new and additional direct service to Guernsey from Groningen. On the back of a very successful 2018 season we are also very pleased that Sunair has confirmed the continuation of the triangular Rotterdam charter for 2019. We look forward to working with Sunair on the promotion of both Dutch routes, and to welcoming their customers to Guernsey next season.

Rob Veron, CEO Blue Islands added:

Following our partnership for the 2018 season, Blue Islands is delighted to be the selected airline partner for Sunair’s summer 2019 programme to the Channel Islands and look forward to again welcoming guests from Rotterdam to discover our beautiful islands, while the additional Groningen activity for 2019 is testament to the focus on identifying new discrete markets for growth opportunities.

The NEW Groningen Airport Eelde charter service will be operated by Blue islands with a 68-seat ATR 72 aircraft from 28 April 2019 on a weekly basis until 23 June 2019.

The Rotterdam charter service will also be operated by Blue islands on a 68-seat ATR 72 aircraft, commencing a week earlier on 22 April 2019 weekly until 15 September 2019.