'Inadequate air transport structure needs amending'
ALDERNEY'S Chamber of Commerce has called for the deal signed between Aurigny, the States of Alderney and the States of Guernsey to be rescinded.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed last December. It defined the number of flights that Aurigny would provide from Alderney to Guernsey and Southampton, setting out a core number of rotations and the extra flights that would be provided in addition to those.
In May however, one of the busiest months so far in Alderney in terms of the number of events happening, there were no extra rotations to Southampton at all.
Andrew Eggleston, president of Alderney's Chamber of Commerce, said the minimal service provision had meant that people had been unable to book flights.
'A prime reason for the continued flatness of the Alderney economy within every sector stems from our woefully inadequate air transport structure,' he said.
'The Memorandum of Understanding that has been signed by the States of Alderney, the States of Guernsey and Aurigny allows for only a specified level of service to be supplied by Aurigny. This MOU currently only allows for very minimal extra flights and so keeps Alderney tied down to an artificially unacceptable service level that does not allow for current needs, let alone any expansion to the island's economy.
'The Alderney Chamber of Commerce asks that the MOU be amended at the earliest possibility to more fully reflect the wishes of the island and its visitors.'
