The successful recruitment campaign overcame an industry-wide shortage of pilots which is hitting airlines around the world.
Aurigny chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout said the additional staff would help avoid the kind of disruption to flights which repeatedly hit passengers’ travel plans last year and damaged the airline’s reputation with the public, businesses and its shareholder, the States.
Training of the new recruits will begin in May, with the expectation that they will be operational to support peak summer flying from July, as part of Aurigny’s 50-strong team of captains and first officers.
‘As with many organisations, recruitment is an ongoing priority,’ said Aurigny chief operations officer Philip Smallwood.
‘We have put even more focus into our efforts following an unanticipated shortfall in pilot numbers due to illness and attrition in the first three months of this year.
‘As a small island, we face a significant challenge securing the right talent and basing them in Guernsey.
‘I’m pleased our efforts have been successful. We now move into a training phase, which of course takes time.’
Aurigny has been working with AeroProfessional, a specialised recruitment firm, to recruit new ATR captains and first officers.
Some local air services were unable to run as expected over the Easter weekend, but the airline said it was taking measures to limit disruption as far as possible, including obtaining additional ACMI support (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) from wet lease suppliers.
‘I want to reassure the community that we are not headed towards disruption on the scale that we experienced last year,’ said Mr Bezuidenhout.
‘We now have fleet stability, and the recruitment of these pilots is another step on the road to ensuring operational resilience for the summer.’
Aurigny said that staffing is at the levels required in other areas of the its operations, including cabin crew and Dornier pilots.
Normal recruitment is ongoing, with a range of vacancies listed on the Aurigny website.
‘We appreciate the continued patience of our passengers and the community as we onboard this new team,’ said Mr Smallwood.
Airport cancellations disrupt Easter flights
Easter plans were disrupted for some travellers due to cancellations at the airport.
On Saturday, a flight due to be operated by Aurigny’s partner airline, Eastern Airways, was delayed because of a technical fault.
It eventually departed Guernsey more than four hours behind schedule.
The disruption also hit Guernsey FC and their fixture against Binfield on Saturday had to be postponed.
On Easter Sunday, passengers travelling between Guernsey and Gatwick had to book themselves on earlier flights operated by Titan Airways, after an announcement that their original flights had been cancelled.
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