Aurigny to fly to Jersey once more
AURIGNY will compete again on the Jersey route.
It announced this morning that it will start flying the link in May as well as offering a service to Southampton.
Blue Islands currently operates on both routes.
Aurigny chief executive Mark Darby said: ‘We are delighted to be returning to Jersey and offering a further service from Guernsey to Southampton.
‘People often ask me when we will return to our sister island, given Aurigny’s heritage on the route.
‘We will be offering weekday morning and evening flights on both new routes, giving customers the choice of a day return to either destination and convenient times for business, medical and leisure passengers.’
Aurigny has stressed that this latest offering has been worked on for many months and final approvals have only just been given.
Both routes will start in May.
They will be run using one of the existing leased ATR aircraft so Aurigny said there will be no impact on any other services.
It added that the development of these two new routes will help it to reach a breakeven position.
‘The new routes create a slot in the middle of the day, and we are exploring options of adding a further destination in due course,’ a spokesman said.
‘This is being looked into in consultation with VisitGuernsey and the Committee for Economic Development and will be used to further Aurigny’s economic enablement objective.’
Full schedules will be available for booking on Friday.
Aurigny last flew to Jersey as part of a codeshare arrangement agreed in 2014 with Blue Islands. This deal was struck because both airlines were making significant losses on the route.
It ended that in March 2016, shortly after Blue Islands announced a franchise partnership with Flybe.
Since the States adopted its quasi-open skies policy in September, the only routes that are protected are to Gatwick and Alderney.
Seven new routes have opened up – Edinburgh, Bournemouth, Liverpool, Southend, Newquay, Groningen and Heathrow.
