The Guernsey States’ Trading Supervisory Board has welcomed the findings of an independent expert inquiry into Aurigny’s recent reliability issues and future fleet resilience, which is published today.
The inquiry was carried out by a former British Airways chief pilot and an ex-finance director of a European airline, working for PA Consulting Group.
The States’ Trading Supervisory Board (STSB) acts as shareholder representative for the States-owned airline. Its President, Deputy Peter Roffey, said the findings should reassure islanders.
“Firstly, I would apologise again to anyone who has been affected by Aurigny’s reliability, which at times this year has fallen well below the standard that islanders have a right to expect. It has had an impact on the travelling public, on businesses, on the local tourism industry, and on the island more generally, and clearly could not continue.
“The inquiry therefore, first and foremost, sought assurance that Aurigny’s timetable could be reliably delivered with the planned fleet of five ATR aircraft. It took account of some planned adjustments to the network for next summer, but with capacity being maintained to key destinations, including London, Southampton, and Manchester, as well as the new Paris and Edinburgh links introduced in 2024.
“Although the inquiry highlighted some ongoing challenges, these were not unique to Aurigny and islanders can take reassurance from the findings. In the opinion of the expert reviewers, once the fleet transition is complete, Aurigny should have sufficient aircraft to ensure a robust and reliable service throughout the year. In fact it will be more resilient than had the Embraer jet been retained, and better placed than it was this summer to recover following any operational issues, which inevitably will occur sometime.
“The inquiry also examined the causes for the disruption experienced this year, which coincided with the sale of the Embraer and the transition to an all ATR fleet. In the view of the experts, the decision to sell the jet was correct, and had the fleet transition proceeded according to the original plan, some of the disruption experienced this year could have been avoided. However the late delivery of its new leased aircraft left Aurigny very exposed to factors that were outside of its control, which included failures by some of its wet lease suppliers. The reviewers concluded these events could not reasonably have been foreseen.
“As well as reviewing Aurigny’s performance and fleet resilience, the inquiry has made a number of observations regarding airport operations, and suggests some changes that could help improve the resilience of the island’s air links. We will be engaging with the airport management, the airlines, the local regulator, and other interested parties to explore areas where improvements could be made and how we can achieve that.”
