This morning’s Western Mail reveals that the Labour-Plaid Cymru Welsh Government has refused to reveal how much public money is being used to restart flights between North and South Wales today.
They say that the subsidy for new operator Manx2 is a commercial secret, even though the sum paid to the previous operator was made public. It seems that the subsidy paid will depend on how much of Manx2’s costs are covered from ticket revenue.
Thus if travellers are deterred from booking because of the possibility of volcanic ash disrupting aviation over the months ahead, taxpayers could effectively end up paying for empty seats on the flights.
The Western Mail reveals other commercial contracts where the amount of subsidy has been revealed by the Welsh Government and argue that the new air service should not be exempt from such transparency. They point out that officials have disclosed the subsidy for other transport services, including annual payments of £1.7m for the “Gerallt Gymro” rail service between Holyhead and Cardiff and £720,000 for TrawsCambria long-distance buses. They also disclosed the subsidy for Highland Airways – £800,000 per year – to operate North-South flights, and its £400,000 annual payments to Anglesey council for operating the civilian air terminal at Valley.
North Wales Liberal Democrat AM, Eleanor Burnham agrees with the thrust of the Western Mail’s argument. She said: “Now we’re in a time of absolute austerity, we need to know we’re getting value for money. Why don’t they spend the money on transport which everybody can benefit from instead of the few in Anglesey and the north of Gwynedd?”
She described the Assembly Government’s explanation for keeping the subsidy secret as “codswallop”. “It’s pathetic. We pride ourselves on trying to be open and transparent but here we have a closed and secret deal, which gives you cause for concern that it’s costing more than they want you to know.”
She suspected Manx2 would receive a higher subsidy per month than Highland Airways received, and questioned the wisdom of starting a new air contract before the threat of volcanic ash disruption had passed.
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