Aurigny down to two planes for its UK network yesterday
Aurigny was left operating its UK network with just two planes yesterday morning, after its other two aircraft suffered problems.
G-OATR had only returned to service on Monday, but had already run into problems by Tuesday. And G-PBOT, which has suffered several technical issues since arriving in late November, had its wheels firmly on the tarmac yesterday morning, with passengers left waiting for a Gatwick flight, which never took off.
‘Due to technical issues with two of our aircraft, some flights on our service today are delayed,’ said an Aurigny spokesman.
‘Safety is our top priority and our dedicated team of engineers are working to resolve the technical issues safely and promptly.
‘We understand this will be frustrating and we apologise for the inconvenience this undoubtedly causes for any affected passengers.’
G-OATR flew to France for scheduled maintenance in November, but was delayed in Dinard due to parts shortages. It finally returned at the weekend and flew its first scheduled services on Monday.
It completed a Birmingham rotation and two Gatwick rotations at the start of the week, before flying a service to Manchester on Tuesday lunchtime. But then it stayed at the English airport.
The 3pm return leg from Manchester was then delayed. When it departed nearly three hours late, the passengers were aboard another plane leased from Avanti Air.
G-OATR was scheduled to leave Manchester at lunchtime yesterday to return to Guernsey, but was not carrying passengers. But that flight was then pushed back repeatedly.
The problems left the airline with just three planes yesterday, as G-OGFC is currently being serviced. However, one of those planes – the long-leased G-PBOT – was also having problems yesterday. It was due to do a 10.20am rotation to Gatwick, before operating service in and out of Bristol. While the flight was listed as the door and gate closed at 10.15am, the flight did not take off and the flight was then listed as delayed before it was then cancelled at 1.30pm. This left two aircraft scheduled to fly four rotations each. G-OATR flew from Manchester at later in the day to pick up G-PBOT’s Bristol service.
In recent times the airline has leased planes from Avanti Air and Titan Airways to help cover routes when there are issues.
