Work with Aurigny, not against them
FOR those who like to hold Aurigny responsible for all the ills of air travel, today’s efficiency report makes for uncomfortable reading.
It has become commonplace for some deputies to blame the airline, and in particular its management and board, for the huge losses, implying that a new team would do a much better job.
Yet that is not what the ‘warts and all’ report by independent consultants shows. Instead a SWOT analysis by PA Nyras lists the experienced management team as a strength, along with the core team of staff with years of service behind them.
They are not perfect. No organisation is. But in a difficult marketplace the experts are happy with the quality of leadership.
Ironically, where they do have a problem is with the States itself acting as a key stakeholder. Aurigny is often hampered, not helped, by its owners as it battles with the inevitable difficulties and inefficiencies of being a small airline in a highly regulated market.
Among the threats listed in the analysis is the States’ subsidy for Heathrow. Aurigny has no control over this (or the subsidy offered to Blue Islands at Southend) yet the experts find it ‘reasonable to assume’ that it is negatively affecting Gatwick, the only profitable route the islanders’ airline has.
Aurigny also has no control over reckless amendments such as the one up for debate at the Budget meeting next week that would see the airline prevented from competing on the Jersey and Southampton routes.
Here the aviation experts are clear. Aurigny needs to make maximum use of its existing fleet of aircraft without employing more staff. Increasing the number of flights through routes such as Jersey and Southampton is ‘a key opportunity’.
The list goes on. The restricted opening hours of Aurigny’s own airport – for which it is the major customer – prevent the airline from making the most out of its air crews. It is also hamstrung on the times it runs the lifeline route to Gatwick.
The States must use this report as the starting point for building a new, more collaborative, relationship with its own airline.
The current confrontational approach is costing the island dearly.