‘We’re committed to improving our relationship with Aurigny’
GUERNSEY AIRPORT management have committed themselves to improving their relationship with the States-owned airline Aurigny, after an independent report found that it was ‘not great’.
General manager of ports Colin Le Ray has promised a shift from reactive to proactive dialogue with Aurigny and pledged to work hard to take on board the lessons.
The report by consultants stated that the relationship between the two bodies could be better.
‘During our review, it was noted by both sides that the relationship between Guernsey Airport and Aurigny is not great.
‘It is common to find a suboptimal relationship between an airport and its largest base airline customer.
‘Efforts should be made to improve relationships to work to a common cause for Guernsey.’
Mr Le Ray accepted those findings and agreed that consultation could be improved.
‘We have many touch-points with Aurigny, there are many formalised opportunities for dialogue and there are plenty of daily operational conversations.
‘There is a formal consultative committee and Aurigny are on that board.
‘We meet quarterly and we take them through our future strategy and give them an indication of what’s coming up, and that works quite well but we are often getting distracted by operational issues, and attendance waxes and wanes.
‘The dialogue does occur but I think the balance needs to shift from being reactive to proactive, and that’s something we recognise for all our airline partners, not just Aurigny.’
The airport has to fulfil three main roles with regard to airlines; these are to be landlord, enforcer and economic enabler.
It is acknowledged that the three roles can sometimes become conflicted and it is the nature of the business, for instance as enforcer the airport management has to consider standards of operation, which can blur the economic enabler responsibility.
While the airport has promised improved dialogue with Aurigny, it stopped short at offering preferential treatment.
Mr Le Ray explained that it had to treat all airlines equitably.
‘The reason is twofold; firstly the other airlines would hold us to account, even on fairly cosmetic issues such as where aircraft are parked at night.
‘We have to be careful to balance this properly and it’s partly based on the times of departures and partly on the numbers of passengers.
‘Secondly, we are regulated by Europe and one of the very important tests for European regulation is around state aid, and what we have found increasingly to be the case in recent years is our having to evidence that because of the ownership structure of Aurigny that it isn’t changing the way in which the airport delivers a service. So we are having to evidence that we are treating all the airlines equally.
‘It is becoming an audit point and we are having to demonstrate that our treatment is equitable.’
