Aurigny’s jet bids the island a final farewell

G-NSEY was Aurigny’s only Embraer 195 jet. But there have been issues with the ageing aircraft, which first came into service nearly exactly 10 years ago.

Aurigny CEO Nico Bezuidenhout earlier this month confirmed the company had reached a preliminary agreement to sell the plane, but would give no further details.

The airline was similarly tight-lipped yesterday, refusing to state where the plane was going at 1.45pm, but it did confirm that it was leaving the island.

The aircraft's final Aurigny flight was the lunchtime flight from Gatwick.

While the plane has left, it was not showing on website FlightRadar24, which tracks plane movements.

Due to its age, the plane, which arrived in Guernsey on 27 June 204, has been limited by how many hours it could fly before a costly maintenance service was needed.

The plane's departure comes as the airline starts its reduced service for June next week, due to a shortage of aircraft.

After four months of servicing in France, ATR G-ORAI is set to finally return to service next week, which will mean the airline will have three Aurigny-owned ATR aircraft, as well as wet-leased aircraft.

The SAAB 340 will also continue to be used on a back-up basis between now and 4 July.

The two additional wet-leased ATR72 aircraft are being added to the fleet – with one arriving in July and the other in September.