Aurigny bosses under fire ahead of meeting with deputies

Months of unprecedented disruption and poor customer service continued over the weekend as passengers were left stranded without assistance after the late cancellation of the Sunday evening flight from Gatwick at the end of half term.

Economic Development’s tourism lead Simon Vermeulen accused bosses of the beleaguered airline of ‘struggling to hold it together’, as chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout and his colleagues prepared for a briefing with all States members.

‘I’m not sure the States Trading Supervisory Board, acting as the shareholder, is doing all they could be,’ said Deputy Vermeulen.

‘They could, if they wished, parachute in a new board and chief executive. Other chief executives would be available, if that is what is needed. Immediate action is needed. We need to do things differently. The hands-off approach the STSB takes with Aurigny is clearly not working well for us.

‘I’ve got the appetite to do things differently, but I don’t know how many of my colleagues have.’

Aurigny recently pledged to sort out the flight chaos hitting islanders’ travel plans, but had warned of planned disruption for another month.

Deputy Vermeulen feared Guernsey would have ‘no tourism industry left’ unless the airline’s problems with reliability and customer service were put right quickly. He added that its performance was having ‘a terrible effect’ on the island’s financial services sector.

In an email to deputies, Economic Development president Neil Inder bemoaned that his committee's role was limited and revealed that he would ask it about taking on responsibility for Aurigny when they meet today.

‘I will test with the committee the appetite for moving the responsibility for Aurigny to Economic Development,’ said Deputy Inder.

‘You never know, we may be able to get a policy letter to the States fairly sharpish. I have already tested with officials the likelihood of getting a short-term fix for Heathrow, but I suspect it’s doubtful as assets are likely to be deployed elsewhere in the busy season.’

He wrote to States members after Policy & Resources vice-president Heidi Soulsby rebuffed suggestions that the Civil Contingencies Authority should get involved in Aurigny’s difficulties and said Economic Development was primarily responsible for the island’s air links.

‘I’m now genuinely at a loss to know what STSB and P&R can do in the short term. But I’m willing to give it a go,’ said Deputy Inder.

Deputy Vermeulen was yesterday also waiting for STSB to confirm arrangements for a meeting he has requested with Aurigny chairman Kevin George.

He wanted to discuss long-standing concerns about which he felt the airline had failed to take seriously for too long.

‘We have put all our eggs in Aurigny’s basket and the service is getting worse and worse,’ he said.

‘When what is almost our only airline fails, we have a big problem. I can’t remember a worse time.’

Deputy Vermeulen was also seeking assurances after increasing speculation in recent months about staff morale and turnover at Aurigny.

‘We hear there are several key staff positions open and problems retaining staff and arbitration with pilots,’ he said.

‘It’s clear the culture up there needs to change.’