Expect London fares rise when competition goes

I can only relate my own experiences, which cover about two dozen Gatwick return trips per annum.

Most of these are Saturday day trips. I originally opted many years ago to fly with Flybe solely because of timings. I can normally get back to Gatwick at about 6.45pm, which meant I could catch the 7.50pm flight with Flybe, whereas the last Aurigny flight departed about 7pm. I therefore was not really concerned with flight costs, as I knew that using Flybe saved me the cost of an overnight stay.

However, Aurigny changed their timetable a while ago so that their last flight took off at 7.30pm, which meant that I now had the choice of airline if required. Having never been let down by Flybe (on three occasions over the years we have been delayed by either the weather or the firefighter strike in Guernsey and Flybe have put us up each time in a hotel) that my allegiance is obviously to Flybe. I have, however, compared the prices of the two airlines for my trips during 2013 as I do not wish to pay more than I have to and in approximately 90% of these Flybe were cheaper.

These figures combined with the recent Aurigny passengers' comparisons therefore do not inspire me with confidence about future costs when Aurigny has no competition. Although, as stated, I prefer Flybe flights to Gatwick, I cannot agree with their advert regarding flying to Southampton and catching a train to London. Having checked the rail timings it is not possible on Saturdays to get back from London in less than about two hours, therefore making a day trip impossible for me.

I also have little faith in Aurigny's ATR fleet as they are not as reliable as, and have a lower specification than, Flybe's Dash 8 aircraft. A good example of this was on New Year's Day when both airlines had flights to Gatwick at 10.30am. There were quite a few passengers going to 3pm football matches at Arsenal, Fulham, Crystal Palace etc. At about 10am Aurigny announced that because of severe crosswinds their flight was delayed and a further announcement would be made at 11am. Flybe took off on time at 10.30am whereas Aurigny still had not left at 1pm, forcing these football supporters to cancel their flights.

Obviously Aurigny's new jet will be of a higher specification and therefore these delays and any breakdowns should be cut to a minimum. However, without competition I expect to be paying quite a bit more for my flights in the future.

PS: I fully expect a waffled reply to this letter from Aurigny that Flybe were running special promotions etc., etc., which I am afraid does not wash when comparing prices over the duration of a whole year.

kmb@cwgsy.net

Name and address withheld.