Aurigny’s newest ATR undergoes some unforeseen maintenance

G-PEMB is an ATR72, which joined Aurigny on a long lease in mid-July. It entered service on Friday, on services between Guernsey and London Gatwick.

However it has now been held up in servicing over the weekend.

‘We regret to inform passengers of delays and disruptions to our flight schedule caused by heavy fog in Guernsey this morning and unforeseen maintenance on a leased ACMI aircraft,’ an Aurigny spokeswoman said.

‘We anticipate that operations may be affected through Tuesday.

‘We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our passengers due to these unforeseen circumstances. Our team is working diligently to minimise the impact and is actively reaching out to all affected passengers.’

Both Alderney and Guernsey airports were affected by a second morning of thick fog yesterday. Inter-island flights did not get under way until lunchtime.

Outbound UK flights are not usually seriously affected by fog, if the plane to operate them is already on the ground in Guernsey. All of Aurigny’s ATR fleet were needed to operate the four UK red eye flights – the three ATRs owned by Aurigny and the leased Jump Air plane – and two departed half an hour later than scheduled.

When they tried to return, the Southampton flight had to turn back to the Hampshire airport, while the flight from London City diverted to Exeter. The morning Gatwick flight had to hold overhead for 40 minutes before managing to get on the ground.

This led to long delays throughout the day and some cancellations. The Aurigny spokeswoman said G-PEMB had performed well on its first day of service, but there had been some expected teething issues during the post-initial service.

‘Our engineering team is currently addressing these to ensure readiness for a full flying programme,’ she said.

Aurigny is still waiting for its second long-term leased ATR – expected to be called G-PBOT after Petit Bot – to arrive.