However, an updated timetable has not yet been released and it is unclear how many of the services will depart from Jersey and how many will enable travellers to return on the same day.
Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham said that a final timetable still needed to be compiled but that the additional services would give passengers more choice and might encourage other travel operators to lower their costs.
He also said that the whole £95,680 would only need to be used if capacity on the crossings ran below 60 per cent.
‘They are not all day-return journeys. It may be that you go on a Friday and come back on a Saturday. There is the option to buy a single ticket,’ he said.
‘I am not sure on the exact dates but the timetable will be published imminently. It depends on a number of factors including tides and logistics.’
The previous timetable for the service included 49 day-return journeys from Jersey and
seven from Guernsey between April and October.
Last month Hugues Gros, the director of Manche Iles Express, the ferry company that
successfully tendered to run the service, described the number of additional crossings the islands’ governments were requesting as ‘unrealistic’.
Asked if he thought the service could be run without money from the underwrite needing to be used, Mr Farnham said: ‘Absolutely, but it is up to the public to use and support the service.’
