Technical fault causes long delays for Aurigny

The short-leased plane D-AASG appears to have been released by the airline, as it was operating services in Germany and Bulgaria yesterday.

Meanwhile long-leased plane G-PEMB, which only entered service a couple of weeks ago, appeared to be grounded yesterday morning, before flying to Dinard in the afternoon.

It meant rotations to Southampton, East Midlands and Gatwick were all delayed, and one Liverpool flight was cancelled.

Aurigny chief commercial officer Sudeep Ghai said one aircraft required unexpected off-island maintenance.

‘We appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers affected by the disruption,’ he said.

'We are currently in the process of securing additional wet-leased capacity, which will be in service early next week.’

Customers on cancelled flights were rebooked onto the next available services.

Despite the delays, check-in cut off times were only slightly adjusted.

This meant, for example, that passengers on the 6.55am to Southampton still had to check by 7.30am, even though the plane did not take off until after 10.30am.

For passengers coming the other way, the wait was even worse, with the check-in for the 8.10am from Southampton closing at 7.30am.

But the plane did not take off until 11.45am.

Autigny said it had no power to delay check-in closure at UK airports due to security control restrictions.

Senior figures from the airline met STSB president Peter Roffey this week, after weeks of disruption to services.

The airline has expressed confidence that the arrival of another leased aircraft next week, which will bring the ATR fleet back up to five.

It is also in the process of acquiring another long-leased ATR.