Airport is a disgrace

The following are examples of recent problems I have encountered:

l Major delays at security with only one lane open. My daughter had to queue for 45 minutes.

l Flight arrival times not being kept up to date on the website. The arrival time of a flight I was meeting was not displayed until a few minutes before arrival and this is common. The airport authorities know the progress of flights – why not keep those meeting them properly informed?

l Luggage delivery after arrival taking far too long. Recently I had to wait almost an hour, with no explanation or apology offered. The problem was staff shortages – are they not paying enough?

l Failure to keep passengers informed about delayed flights. Just last week my flight was delayed for operational reasons, but other than an initial announcement no more information was forthcoming. Even the Aurigny staff in the departure lounge did not know what was happening. The airport authorities know what the problems are – why not keep customers in the picture, it avoids so much frustration.

We have lived here for over five years and love just about everything about Guernsey except the flight experience through the airport – it is a wonderful place. The airport authorities seem determined to do all they can to show the island in the worst possible light.

DOUG JOHNSTONE

Le Val de Putron,

Fermain Road,

St Peter Port,

Guernsey,

GY1 2TD.

doug.johnstone@outlook.com

Editor’s footnote: general manager, ports, Colin Le Ray replies:

Guernsey Airport is grateful for the opportunity to provide a response to your correspondent. Once again I would like to apologise to any passengers who have experienced disruption in recent months. The standard of service has at times fallen below the level that our customers should expect and below that which we set ourselves. There have been a number of reasons for this and we are committed to resolving these issues. We are investing considerable resources – both financially and in staff time – to do so.

The underlying cause of the issues raised in the letter relate primarily to short-staffing this summer across a number of our third-party business partners, who for various reasons have experienced high staff turnover this year.

Our security provider (G4S) will by this autumn be back to full strength, however it has had to rely extensively on staff working overtime and on agency staff to bolster its manning levels over most of the summer. The immediate impact of low staffing levels has been to reduce the central search area on some shifts to one lane in order to maintain a fully compliant operation. The number of times this occurred during August was limited, but it has occasionally led to delays at other times and outside of our busiest summer month.

Our third-party handling agents (who are responsible for aircraft and passenger handling) have also been short-staffed this summer and are working hard to increase staff levels. Handling agents are responsible for updating delay information and the Airport Authority will not ordinarily have access to the level of detail which determines how an airline plans to recover from a delay.

Collectively and irrespective of the challenges faced by individual organisations, we do all try to work together to provide the best information and service that we can; however, this summer’s staffing shortages across a number of organisations have been particularly challenging and we accept that delays have occurred from time to time, for which we apologise.

On a positive note, new routes, improved catering facilities and retail opportunities have been well received this summer, and, despite the challenges, we hope our passengers will have seen and will continue to see real investment in the infrastructure and equipment (including installation of a new body scanner this autumn and new X-rays later this year).