‘Aurigny has to do more to reduce its carbon footprint’

Nico Bezuidenhout said most of the States-owned airline’s fleet was made up of the most fuel-efficient aircraft available. The company is already looking to reduce its carbon footprint, though he acknowledged that more progress was needed.

‘It doesn’t take much to understand that we are suffering environmental consequences,’ he said, ‘but we have to do more and be active and aggressive in terms of how we adopt green initiatives and reduce our carbon footprint.’

Core to the airline’s strategy is to simplify its fleet – an ambition which is being pursued for both financial and environmental reasons.

Plans are in place to present a business case for selling its one Embraer jet – an announcement about which is now expected in September – while proposed changes to Alderney’s runway may mean Aurigny can also dispose of its remaining Dornier aircraft.

If these sales occur, Aurigny’s entire fleet would then consist of ATRs, which Mr Bezuidenhout described as ‘one of the most environmentally-friendly aircraft that you can have’ in the market currently.

‘ATR has announced its own development path to a carbon-neutral fleet development and its first aircraft are planned to be available in 2030.

‘We will be ready to adopt those aircraft as and when they become available,’ he said.

Mr Bezuidenhout questioned the claims of some companies which purport to be offering a greener solution based on hydrogen technology.

‘As a board and as aviators, we fully support the move to environmentally friendly aviation practices,’ he said, ‘but you have to question what the rate will be.

‘There is no clear timeline in terms of licensing processes for hydrogen-based aircraft in the short term and it’s not just the licensing, it’s the safety procedures, the operating procedures and the on-airport hydrogen production.’

He said both Airbus and Boeing, as the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world, had indicated the technology would be unlikely to be rolled out before 2035.

Hydrogen-based aircraft carry the promise of significantly reduced emissions but the source of the hydrogen is a key consideration, with some hydrogen being produced from coal-fired power stations.

Mr Bezuidenhout said there were ‘many factors that still have to be gone through’ and drew attention to some business cases he had seen from companies which proposed to use fossil fuel-based aircraft until they can adopt the technology.

‘That’s what we’re already doing,’ he said.

‘We’re all waiting for hydrogen-based aircraft to become available.’

In the meantime, he said, Aurigny would pursue carbon footprint reduction by flying ATRs in place of the jet when possible, maximising weight saving and adopting optimal flight paths.