The airline said that bookings for travel at this time of year have been slower than anticipated, as some travellers may be reassessing their immediate travel plans given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Currently, bookings for May are approximately 13% below last year.
Changes have been made to selected routes between mid-April and early June, and Aurigny is contacting its affected customers directly.
‘While a small island community, we are not immune from the realities presented by the global travel ecosystem,’ said Philip Saunders, chief commercial officer at Aurigny.
‘Current global events are impacting consumer confidence and changing travel behaviours. Furthermore, significant increases in global oil prices are now filtering through to aviation.
‘Unfortunately, we have to pass on some of the resulting costs to customers to ensure sustainable air services to and from Guernsey.’
On average, fuel represents almost a third of an airline’s costs. Aurigny has added a temporary fuel adjustment surcharge of £2 per sector on all bookings made from 20 March onwards, and is keeping the situation closely under review.
Flights to and from London City airport will be reduced but Aurigny will continue to operate to the airport six days per week.
Services to and from south-west England will be combined between Exeter and Bristol, though the frequency of Exeter services remains higher than last year, with five flights per week instead of three.
Most of the new Wednesday frequencies to and from Paris have been put back until June.
Despite the spring slowdown Mr Saunders said that Aurigny remained optimistic for the year ahead. Bookings for the peak season remain strong from late June onwards, he added.
You need to be logged in to comment.