‘Disillusioned’ by Aurigny’s London City actions

It was good to hear the conflicting political views of Barry Brehaut and Joe Mooney, who both had much to discuss (perhaps there were not many callers?).

As I am unable to participate as a caller on the phone-in, please may I direct this comment through the Guernsey Press.

Joe reported on the lines of the following... ‘was at a meeting the other Monday with the management of Aurigny to discuss going forward in a positive way. Then on the Wednesday of that same week, the Guernsey Press reported that Aurigny would be pulling out of the London City Airport route, which was not mentioned at the Monday meeting and was definitely the first I [Joe Mooney] got to hear about it.’

My view on the above comment is that this behaviour in itself is incredibly mind-boggling from an airline that is owned by the States of Guernsey and paid for (and their losses) by the local community. Probably only a handful of other deputies also knew about the impending news of the demise of London City route to come.

Aurigny had also ‘dealt’ with the London City slots, which in effect would not give anybody at all the opportunity of redesignating those slots to another carrier.

The disillusioned local community will now believe that Aurigny were afraid that the government may leak the ‘bad news’ ahead of the Press announcement. The disillusioned local community will now believe that Aurigny wanted to ensure the London City slots would not be available to be offered to a rival carrier. The disillusioned local community will now be even more angry that the full accounts for Aurigny will now probably only be made available to the States of Guernsey and a chosen few.

This disillusioned writer will continue to fight for what is fair and equitable, which is realistic/affordable fares now on this loss-making white elephant until this airline is effectively wound up once and for all.

Name and address withheld.

Editor’s footnote: A spokesman for Aurigny replies: Aurigny engages proactively with committees throughout the States, but our formal relationship with the government is through the States’ Trading Supervisory Board, which acts as shareholder for the airline.

When considering the future of London City, we can assure everyone that we kept STSB up to date with our thoughts and plans at all times.

In addition to regular day-to-day contact, there are formal quarterly meetings to review the airline’s financial and operational performance, our business plans and the key challenges and risks facing the business. These meetings have also provided an opportunity to focus on the airline’s ongoing response to the Strategic Review of Aurigny that was completed in 2017, including the withdrawal of London City.

Any claim we acted improperly with regard to the London City route slots are completely unfounded. We released these slots back to the airport slot coordinator in the normal way.

Finally, I should note that the Aurigny Group’s accounts are published on our website.