How Much Have WE Spent?

The gov has refused to reveal how much underwriting Loganair’s London Heathrow route has cost the Manx taxpayer.

An FoI submitted by Gef has been refused, with the gov citing commercial sensitivities.

Since May, when the route was re-launched, an agreement has been in place that sees the service underwritten by the taxpayer.

In his then role as Enterprise Minister, Dr Alex Allinson told a Tynwald Committee the matter was a ‘question of use it or lose it’. He added: ‘We are talking about a 72-seater plane, so if we get 50 people on each of the planes, it will be at no cost to the Manx taxpayer.’

When we submitted an FoI to the DfE, we were told that the DoI was the better department to seek figures from as it was handling the policy.

In response to our FoI seeking a breakdown of payments between May and October 4, the DoI said: ‘ While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt from disclosure under section 30 of the Act as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the Department of Infrastructure.

‘As section 30 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large.’

While the DoI refused our FoI, it did accept there was a public interest element in our request. However, it refused on grounds that disclosure would prejudice its commercial interests, that it ‘may damage the working relationship between Loganair and the department’ and because of the ‘need to protect the commercial interests of the private sector, which plays an important role in the general health of the island’s economy’.

Future?

That initial agreement was for six months and is due to last until the end of October and with Flybe announcing it will be operating a Ronaldsway to Heathrow route, the future of Loganair’s service, as well as its subsidy, is being brought into question.

When we asked Loganair about the success of its route, whether talks were ongoing about the future of the route and whether Flybe’s plans affected the Scottish airline’s own intentions, we were told Loganair was unable to comment.