Neil Inder has said that he believes the island has lost confidence in the airline and that he himself has lost confidence in the States’ Trading Supervisory Board’s ability to ‘manage the crisis that is Aurigny’.
If re-elected he will seek the STSB presidency and look to have the Aurigny board removed, he said.
Current STSB president Peter Roffey said the board had already put pressure on the airline to avoid a repeat of last summer’s regular disruption following many delays and cancellations over last weekend.
And the president of the Guernsey Hospitality Association is concerned about Aurigny’s performance, but said that Deputy Inder had not put much pressure on Aurigny himself over the last term.
Deputy Inder said that if he failed in a bid to become STSB president but was re-elected to the States, he would bring a requete to seek the resignations of the Aurigny board.
Last week’s problems followed serious disruption last summer when the airline experienced a range of difficulties that it called ‘black swan events’.
‘It now appears that this black swan has been laying eggs every few weeks,’ said Deputy Inder. ‘Failure must have consequences.’
Deputy Roffey said he had been in regular contact with the airline’s CEO over the last few days. Last week’s problems were raised at a meeting yesterday.
‘By and large they have recovered very well from last year but regrettably there was disruption that will have brought back memories of 2024,’ he said.
Shortage of crew was one of the issues, but he said he had been assured that more pilots would be coming in over the next few weeks and those problems would not be repeated.
‘But I’ve made it clear that “jam tomorrow” is not enough and they have to deliver. There’s not much more that we can do.’
Deputy Roffey said that he did not believe that sacking the board would achieve anything at this time.
‘We have to take a calculation as to if that would make things better or worse. Our calculation is that it would make things worse.
‘We’re keeping the pressure on and we’ll meet the board next week to seek assurances that they can avoid what happened last summer.
‘We are straining every sinew to make sure problems are resolved.’
The Guernsey Hospitality Association earlier this week voiced its concerns over the recent flight disruption, which included Blue Islands and Aurigny services, but president Alan Sillett said he was sceptical about the timing of Deputy Inder’s comments.
‘In four-and-a-half years as Economic Development president he has not, as far as I remember, put any pressure on Aurigny,’ he said.
‘I think Aurigny does need better oversight and much more oversight than it has had. Deputy Roffey has been too lenient on Aurigny’s board and management and we’re still having ongoing problems with our air links which are damaging to our economy and our reputation.
‘He sits at the head of the committee that’s responsible for that and I think he has a lot to answer for.’
Mr Sillett was also critical of Deputy Inder’s response to a call for Economic Development to look at Emas – Engineered Materials Arresting Systems – which would put crushable material at one end of the airport runway which could allow larger planes to land in the island.
‘He decided to pass it on to STSB instead.’
Aurigny has been approached for comment.
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