Aurigny could cancel more services as passenger demand drops

It is focussing on preserving lifeline routes and connections to the rest of the UK network and minimising the financial impact on the business, while at the same time creating spare resources in its operations so it can keep the operation going in the event that the virus impacts staffing levels.

CEO Mark Darby said: 'Clearly the current crisis is having an unprecedented impact on many airlines’ businesses. It has already contributed to the failure of Flybe and is likely to cause other airlines to get into difficulties. We are confident the crisis will pass and that by taking timely actions to reduce our operating costs we can ensure that our operation is maintained such that we can resume normal service as soon as possible and restore Guernsey’s critical airlinks to historic levels.'

Some passengers have been deferring or cancelling their travel plans.

Aurigny has been modifying its operating programme, including a temporary reduction in London Gatwick services.

'It’s likely that we will use one of our new ATRs on some Gatwick services normally operated by our Embraer jet and combine other services,' an Aurigny spokesperson said.

'It is possible that we will need to cancel a limited number of other non-Gatwick services, but where this is necessary, we will endeavour to give as reasonable notice as possible in the circumstances of any such cancellations. If any of the changes impact the departure/arrival times, customers will be sent an email notifying them of the changes. We will do our best to keep changes to a minimum.'

Passengers wanting to change their plans are recommended to visit the airline's website.

'Our call centre is experiencing very high call volumes and we apologise to our customers for the long waiting times currently being experienced,' the spokesperson said.

'To reduce the volume of calls we ask that customers read the information on our website about rules and policies for changing and cancelling bookings.'