Fog-beating tech a ‘win-win’ for airline

It might be useful to take a few steps back and provide your readers with some background to this offer.

Firstly, it’s no secret that Aurigny has for some time been monitoring the development of technology aimed at overcoming fog disruption that so often hits our operations. At the same time, like all airlines, we keep our fleet requirements under constant review and consider renewal opportunities in order to control maintenance costs and avoid reductions in reliability which result from ageing aircraft.

With this in mind, we were encouraged to hear of ATR’s (the manufacturer of our turboprop aircraft) progress with their much-anticipated ‘enhanced vision system’ ClearVision, on new ATR-72 600 aircraft. They made a visit to Guernsey earlier this year where local weather conditions made for a perfect test bed and the results were impressive (search ATR Clearvision Teaser in YouTube).

Not long after, ATR approached us with an exciting opportunity to be the launch partner for ClearVision, as part of a very attractive and cost-effective offer to upgrade our fleet and replace our ageing aircraft.

It is true that we signed a ‘Letter of Intent’ – it is not binding and was agreed under the full understanding that a business case must go to the States, who will ultimately decide whether to approve. To reiterate, this is a non-binding agreement, but crucially, meant we could secure the advantageous terms of the offer. If we had not done so, we could not have provided any meaningful detail or terms in our business case, in order for the States to make an informed and evidence-based decision.

It’s also important to note that we will not be seeking any capital investment from the States – simply asking the States to act as a guarantor of financing, to allow us to make this investment ourselves. An investment that will bring us significant savings over the next 10 years and bring us closer to break-even. At this stage, it would be inappropriate to go into further details of the business case, but we can say with confidence that it will have a positive effect on our financial position.

I would also like to reassure you that, because we are not seeking States money, this is not taking funds away from a possible runway extension or any other possible infrastructure investment by the States. This is not an either-or choice and does not block any future States decisions.

This is about addressing our fleet requirements here and now. It’s no coincidence that easyJet has a fleet with an average age of 7.7 years, and Ryanair an average of 5.5 years. Airlines have policies for fleet renewal for good reason.

We believe future investment in new aircraft is critical for our future operational resilience. It ensures we have a fleet that is fit for purpose for years to come, that is reliable, and at the same time reduce our costs. We also have an exciting opportunity to help launch new technology that could cut disruption in Guernsey dramatically.

While the new technology will not completely solve the fog problem, we do believe it will be a game- changer. This is not based on ‘spurious statistics’ or ‘exaggerated claims’, as Mr Smith claims, but is based on what we have seen first-hand from the technology and the views of experts in the industry.

For us, it is win-win.

A crucial investment.

An exciting opportunity. We hope you agree.

MARK DARBY,

CEO, Aurigny Air Services.