Skip to main content

Flights getting back on track after Thursday’s fog

Flight disruption continued into the morning after fog on Thursday left hundreds stranded on and off-island.

Aurigny said it had been working hard to accommodate affected passengers as quickly as possible.
Aurigny said it had been working hard to accommodate affected passengers as quickly as possible. / Guernsey Press

Flights from Thursday lunchtime onwards were cancelled due to a thick fog which covered the airport.

Airlines worked with States, Guernsey Ports and Visit Guernsey to support affected passengers and secure overnight accommodation.

Emergency contingency procedures were ready to be activated to ensure support and shelter was available for those unable to secure accommodation, but ultimately were not needed.

Passengers who were stranded away from Guernsey were accommodated in hotels, with Aurigny’s teams working to ensure they had arrangements in place to get to Guernsey as soon as possible.

As local weather conditions caused the disruption, passengers who were unable to travel from Guernsey were required to make their own accommodation arrangements.

Services resumed almost as scheduled from the afternoon, apart from the 2.40pm flight to Gatwick, which was delayed due to a broken-down plane on Gatwick’s runway.

‘Due to a technical issue with a departing aircraft, our runway is closed,’ a London Gatwick spokesman said at the time.

‘Our teams are working to move the aircraft and resume operations as quickly as possible. As always, safety and security is our number one priority.’

Aurigny said that with a large number of customers needing to be accommodated on already-busy flights at the end of the school holidays, most services were expected to remain particularly busy over the coming days.

People in Alderney were facing a little more trouble getting home.

One passenger said that the airline could not offer an alternative way to get home for a week.

They said that Aurigny had told them that it would not be able to put on any additional flights to clear the backlog caused by the fog and would not book a ferry as alternative transport.

The person said that they had to organise their own alternative transport otherwise they would have been stuck in Alderney for a week.

Aurigny said it understood how frustrating it was for passengers affected by weather disruptions and it had been working hard to accommodate affected passengers as quickly as possible.

‘There are practical limits to the additional capacity we can provide on the Alderney route. With up to 12 flights operating each day, there is limited scope to add further rotations without additional aircraft and crew being available,’ said a spokesman.

‘We have continued to review the options available to us and have been working to accommodate passengers on the earliest services possible.’

Passengers in Jersey have experienced a similar situation.

The airline said that capacity on the Jersey route had been limited following the disruption, including for passengers who were diverted to Jersey from Gatwick.

To help clear the backlog and get passengers home sooner, Aurigny is operating an additional flight rotation between Guernsey and Jersey this morning, to accommodate more affected passengers and reduce the number waiting for the next available scheduled service.

‘We appreciate that the weather disruption has been frustrating for those affected and will continue to review the operation and available capacity to get passengers home as quickly as possible,’ said the spokesman.

You need to be logged in to comment.