Issues involving training demands and technical problems are understood to have caused some of the problems, although fog also added to the delays over the weekend. There were no flights between the islands on Saturday or Sunday and on Friday the airline arranged for a charter boat to move passengers after a technical issue.
P&F said it had received an increasing number of complaints from passengers, both private and business, which highlighted communication failures as well as the operational disruption and problems with reliability.
‘Alderney relies heavily on dependable transport links and the current level of disruption is having a real impact on residents, businesses and connectivity with the rest of the Bailiwick,’ said P&F chairwoman Jennie Cameron.
‘We have asked for urgent clarification on the causes of these issues and for a clear plan to restore confidence in the service.’
STSB, as the shareholder representative, has been asked to seek a detailed explanation of the causes of the performance issues and for a clear plan of remedial action.
P&F also seeks assurance that contractual standards are being met and that it is exercising ‘appropriate oversight’.
The Alderney services are being operated by Skybus under contract to Aurigny.
STSB president Deputy Mark Helyar confirmed the board had received the letter from Alderney’s Policy & Finance Committee and said it would respond in due course.
Aurigny declined to comment, but in the wake of the recent problems – before the foggy weekend – it released a statement in which chief commercial officer Philip Saunders said that the Twin Otter had improved reliability, with flight cancellations down 7.9% and passenger numbers up 4.3% since the introduction of the aircraft up to the end of February, and compared to the same period in the previous year.
He said that Alderney services would be significantly strengthened by the use of Twin Otters rather than Dornier aircraft.
‘During the Dornier era, a similar situation would likely have resulted in much more disruption over an extended period,’ he said.
Under Aurigny’s contract with Skybus, two Twin Otters are to be based permanently in Guernsey, providing an extremely high level of resilience for Alderney’s air services.
But last week one was being used to train flight crews, with back-up coming from the Isles of Scilly.
The airline said last week that while it was operating Dornier aircraft to and from Alderney, last year there were 150 days when only one Dornier was available, with no back-up. The island’s medevac services have also been disrupted, with one patient delayed two days in leaving the island before he was eventually able to get to hospital in Guernsey on a boat.
