Small airport, big costs

ON A recent Thursday night, following all the weather delays, I had to collect a passenger off the Manchester flight which finally arrived at 00:30 (Well done, Aurigny). There were five cars there to collect passengers, no taxis and no buses.

There was of course a traffic warden there making sure that none of the five cars could actually stop. You can imagine the scene with a slow procession going round and round rather like a circus with a yellow-coated ringmaster. I wonder what he was getting paid and who deemed it necessary to employ him at that time and for what reason?

While on the subject of the airport, I am told that they have recently appointed a commercial manageress. I am at a loss to understand why along with an airport director, his deputy and an already full quota of staff we need yet another civil servant.

Her cost will of course just add to the already excessive budget for running the airport and what will she achieve?

I wonder if she will be tasked to open up new routes? (as long as they are not to Gatwick or operated by easyJet), or try to get the existing tenants or passengers to pay more? Whatever she does, I really hope that she can cover her costs but would ask why all the other management could not do that job?

Name and address withheld.

Editor's footnote: Guernsey Airport Director Colin Le Ray responds: 'While the need to employ forecourt attendants may seem futile at that time of night, the airport is bound and audited against national aviation security requirements and that includes a need to prevent vehicles stopping outside of the terminal building. This requirement is in place during terminal operating hours, however early or late that may be. That said, the main car park is just a two minute walk from the terminal, and is free to park for the first hour, so there is no particular need for people awaiting arriving passengers to keep driving round in a slow procession.

Our attendants do, however, provide much more than just a policing presence. They are on site to assist passengers, to undertake housekeeping duties around the terminal and they generally provide the first call support for any car park issues. They will also be calling taxis for passengers and generally endeavouring to ensure passengers are supported on their journey out of the airport.

Guernsey Airport has recently appointed a commercial manger, a shared post with the Harbours. The post was filled using an existing unfilled vacancy and represents no overall increase in headcount. The post holder will be tasked with increasing revenues for the airport, including looking to support third party tenants of the airport in increasing their business activities, with a particular emphasis on improving non-aeronautical revenues.

Both the airport director and his deputy are fully occupied in managing the airport infrastructure and its complex operations and the need for a commercial manager to dedicate resource into this area was identified independently by York Aviation in a review of airport operations. It is not that unusual for an airport to have a dedicated commercial manager, a role which until now has had to be delivered on an ad-hoc basis by the existing airport management team as and when it can be accommodated alongside their existing duties. This resulted in commercial management becoming a reactive matter; this appointment will place that role more firmly into a proactive area. With turnover of £10m per annum, a single part-time commercial manager actively driving that element of the business does not seem an unreasonable allocation of resource.'