Aurigny needs luck of the Irish
Confirmation that Aurigny’s direct flights to Dublin are to restart next week will please a lot of islanders, the airline obviously, and no doubt, hoteliers in the island, and enable people to plan with confidence for a trip this summer.
The latest route initiative from the States own, loss-making, airline has been broadly welcomed. Flights over the first few weeks have been busy in both directions, not withstanding the Brexit bonus of having to fly to Belfast and arrange a coach down to Dublin.
But islanders have had a patchy relationship with Aurigny’s new route initiatives over the years. We love to explore, and we love the convenience of a direct service.
What we don’t always love is going to the same place twice. A problem for Aurigny. And trying to justify any route, other than Gatwick, on the grounds of ‘business connections’, never seems to work. Anyone remember Amsterdam? A popular service for a while that ran out of steam. And on leisure routes, we’ve demonstrated in the past that demanding ‘where next?’ is more appealing than making a return journey. Not particularly surprising, but just another issue for Aurigny.
It would be a big surprise if the Dublin route fails to pan out to be a success this summer. The challenge for Aurigny will be to convince islanders, or to market successfully in Ireland, to keep flying it for years to come.