Flyers praise Aurigny for getting them home

Despite Friday night’s sudden news of Blue Island’s immediate collapse, which left its passengers to their own devices, with little to no communication – the scene at the airport on Saturday morning was a calm one.

Airport staff were on hand, and stationed at the help desk, to help with any queries and flight changes in person.

‘Our immediate thoughts are with those directly affected – our aviation colleagues from Blue Islands and obviously the community,’ said Guernsey Airport director Richard Thomasson.

‘It’s a massive impact and so sudden. I think it took us all by surprise. But credit to the duty teams – a lot of them who were here last night when it was emerging, came back again this morning, continuing communication.

‘We have some really good collaboration with the island-based airline and with Nico and his wider team. We’ve been able to be here Saturday morning, less than 12 hours later, to say “we have a plan in place and we’re here to support”.

‘We’ll continue to do that – to make sure that we can keep the island connected and that lifeline route to Southampton. It’s really important and I think in a very difficult situation, it’s been handled really well and seamlessly.’

Aurigny’s extra 1pm flight to Jersey welcomed grateful passengers.

‘Aurigny have been fantastic,’ said Dana Coles, who lives in Jersey and was visiting the island with her husband, Chris, for business and to visit friends. She said they had received no notification from Blue Islands about the cancellation at all.

‘Really bad that they didn’t even think to send their passengers a text – certainly the ones who are travelling today. It would’ve been nice.’

Mrs Coles said the couple first heard rumours of the situation while they were out for dinner on Friday night. In a panic, they ended their evening early and stayed up late figuring out alternative arrangements online. With no news of further assistance, they booked themselves on an Aurigny flight to Gatwick at the cost of £275, and paid another £413 for a one-way easyJet ticket back to Jersey. When they discovered Aurigny’s additional flight, they called Aurigny and the airline promptly cancelled their Gatwick flight, refunded the £275 and booked them onto the temporary service for £49.99.

‘We are so pleased,’ said Mrs Coles.

‘They were really quick. We think it could be good news for Aurigny. So long as we have a connection between our islands. It’s a really important route, for our finance industry in particular.’

Another impressed Jersey-based passenger was Ian Ronayne, who was travelling with a group of friends and had come to the island for just a day. He said the group thought they would have to be up at 5am to catch a boat before they saw the flight become available.

‘I think it’s really sad news,’ he said.

‘Mainly for the hundreds of people that have lost their jobs. We’re just a bit inconvenienced – no big deal – we’ll get home. But if you lose your job, that’s pretty grim. And it’s important for the islands that we have these airlines. They do a sterling job. They get to the places where others don’t go. When I was a kid there was six flights a day between us.’