We are grateful to PA Consulting and the authors of the report for their very thorough inquiry and subsequent report. They have made some very helpful observations, insights and several important recommendations.
We are pleased to note that the authors have a “positive overview of the forward outlook for 2025” which it describes as “robust and reasonable with an adequate level of resilience”.
To further strengthen our resilience, we have decided to release our summer schedule in a phased approach to allow islanders and visitors to make their key travel plans in good time, whilst allowing us to work further on slot changes across the wider network.
Summer services between Guernsey and Gatwick, London City Airport and Southampton, as well as between Guernsey and Alderney and between Alderney and Southampton, are available for sale from 4 November 2024. All other destinations will be available for sale by mid November 2024.
In terms of operational performance between February and August 2024 the review found “no evidence of negligence or gross misjudgement by management”. It also stated that removing the Embraer from the fleet was the right decision and “if it had been kept in the fleet the situation might have even been worse than what was experienced”.
The authors acknowledge that the difficulties experienced by the airline over the spring and summer period were caused by external factors such as being “let down by the suppliers of short-term aircraft lease capacity”. The aircraft lease capacity was proactively procured from a carrier appropriately regulated by the aviation authorities ahead of the Embraer fleet transition to provide service resilience. This was compounded by “three unconnected maintenance events” which were “completely unrelated and impossible to foresee”.
There are two issues highlighted by the inquiry of which Aurigny is acutely aware: pilot retention and supply chain issues affecting the ATR fleet as well as most other commercial aircraft types, regardless of manufacturer. These are both serious concerns that are affecting the industry globally.
We agree with the report’s assertion that recruitment and retention must be addressed in order that the airline can be sufficiently competitive to attract enough pilots and ensure the right level of resilience.
We continue our efforts to address supply chain problems with the manufacturer ATR. Representatives from the European headquarters will be coming to Guernsey to give more details on how they are dealing with the current issues.
We were pleased to hear the authors’ assessment that Aurigny has a desire to “help the community and the tourism industry” and to this end it has “added capacity in recent years” that has, at least partially, offset the reduction in services by other carriers. They also found that there is a long-established view that “the airline does all that it can to bring every flight home for the residents of the island and to have the aircraft in position in the morning”. This is described as an “admirable culture” and “an off-island carrier…. might have cancelled flights that Aurigny persisted in operating”.
Aurigny further agrees with the report’s recommendation for better collaboration between Aurigny and Guernsey Airport in pursuing our collective objective of providing a resilient air service to Islanders, and we welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively with all parties, including the regulator, to find an optimum sustainable solution for all involved.
Kevin George, Chairman of Aurigny, concluded his statement:
“We completely understand the impact and consequences that Aurigny’s reliability challenges have had on the Guernsey community and unreservedly apologise for this. The management and employees of Aurigny have applied every effort to restore stability to our services, and based on the marked improvement in punctuality seen during October, I am confident that these efforts will continue to lead to improved service delivery”.
