Aurigny comms criticised after issues with six flights on Sunday

Problems appear to have started with G-OGFC as it prepared to take off from Guernsey to Dublin at 11.25am.

Passengers boarded on time for the service, but were then disembarked when a problem was found.

Those on board complained about a lack of communication.

The Dublin flight was repeatedly pushed back, until it was cancelled at 5.30pm, and the return service from Dublin was also cancelled.

Aurigny stopped doing flight updates on social media in February, instead pledging to update passengers on a dedicated disruptions page on its website.

But there was no information on the page on Sunday afternoon.

With no other avenue, one Dublin passenger trying to get to Guernsey posted on one of Aurigny’s adverts on its Facebook page asking for help.

‘Those of us waiting to get back on that flight are waiting in Dublin and being given no information. It’s not helpful,’ she wrote. There was no public response.

The flight from Dublin to Guernsey was due to arrive into Guernsey at 3.15pm, but was also cancelled just after 5pm.

Back in Guernsey, the disruption caused a rotation between Guernsey and Gatwick. Many of the passengers were transferred on to a later Gatwick service or a London City service.

The evening Exeter service was then also cancelled.

An Aurigny spokeswoman apologised for disruption and confirmed all three rotations had been due to be operated by the same aircraft, which suffered a technical issue.

‘We experienced difficulties with our communications on the day,’ she said.

‘We are developing new tools and processes to communicate better with customers although this is not an overnight fix. In the meantime, please rest assured our teams do the very best they can in the circumstances.’

G-OGFC was back in service yesterday morning.

Aurigny has been struggling in recent times to cope when something goes wrong. One of its three ATRs, G-ORAI, has been out of service since February due to delays with servicing work. G-OATR and the jet G-NSEY were both operating on Sunday.

Aurigny also has a leased aircraft, D-AASH, which was operating rotations to Manchester and Birmingham on Sunday.

Another leased aircraft, 9H-LWB, was operating on Sunday morning, but according to FlightRadar24 did not operate again that day after landing from Gatwick at 1.30pm.

It was back in service yesterday.