States Trading Supervisory Board president Peter Roffey refused to comment on claims made in the States yesterday that Aurigny ended 2024 up to £10m. in the red, but he admitted that its losses were much higher than the figure of £1.5m. estimated halfway through the year.
‘I have not seen any actuarial figure yet... but I know it will run into several million pounds,’ said Deputy Roffey.
He all but ruled out Aurigny approaching the States for another bail-out as his board expects the airline to return to profit this year after being hit by a series of ‘black swan’ events in 2024.
‘We do not expect to be approaching the Assembly for any further capital injection as a result of any losses made last year,’ said Deputy Roffey.
‘We expect Aurigny to be able to trade its way out of that, and so the last injection of money from taxpayers remains in 2021.’
Deputy Roffey declined a request by Economic Development member Deputy Simon Vermeulen to put a more precise figure on last year’s losses and said they would be known once ‘proper actuarial processes’ had been completed ahead of publication in the States’ annual accounts as normal.
He would not be drawn further even when Economic Development president Neil Inder put an eye-watering figure in front of the Assembly.
‘Something between £6-10m. is the likely bill Aurigny will be sending,’ said Deputy Inder.
‘The black swan events were a direct consequence of Aurigny’s decision to sell the jet and the substantial losses the board is now incurring for 2024 are wholly the responsibility of that board.’
The STSB acts as Aurigny’s shareholder on behalf of the States and Deputy Inder demanded to know how it was holding the airline’s bosses accountable.
Deputy Roffey cited an inquiry commissioned by the STSB carried out late last year by PA Consulting and led by a former British Airways chief pilot and an ex-finance director of a European airline.
‘I am not an expert in aviation, but we brought in an expert panel in aviation and their conclusion was that the problems were not caused by the sale of the jet,’ he said.
‘They went further and said that had the jet not been sold the likely situation would have been worse.’
After years of losses totalling tens of millions of pounds, Aurigny made a profit in 2022 and 2023, and Deputy Roffey has repeatedly credited the airline’s chairman, Kevin George, and chief executive, Nico Bezuidenhout, with turning the company around.
He told the Assembly yesterday that they were fully aware of the challenges facing the airline after last year’s difficulties.
‘Thankfully, I can report that we have seen a return to the reliability levels seen before the black swan events, with reliability now ahead of industry comparators,’ he said.
‘But I have warned Aurigny that it will take a very long period of reliable operations before its reputational damage is fully repaired.
‘The PA Consulting report identified a number of challenges that the airline will need to address. But overall it concluded Aurigny was well placed to deliver its route network.
‘Given the experience of last year, it is going to take some time to restore islanders’ trust and confidence. It can only do that by continuing to deliver better reliability and resilience.’
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