GAAG’s claims are ‘complete fiction’

I shan’t address the various claims that the group has made regarding different studies and their interpretation of the conclusions. However, as president of the States’ Trading Supervisory Board, which acts as the shareholder for Aurigny, I do have to address the group’s outlandish suggestions that relate to the airline.

I can utterly refute GAAG’s unfounded assertion that Aurigny will require a capital injection of £350m. That claim is based on exaggerated prices for planes that Aurigny has no intention of purchasing; vastly inflated cost of slots at Gatwick which the airline has no intention of buying; and some strange notion that long overdue repairs to Alderney’s runway are being done solely for Aurigny’s benefit. All these suggestions are plain wrong. To be absolutely clear, with the exception of the funding provided for operating the Alderney routes – which are a route subsidy not an airline subsidy – Aurigny does not expect to receive a single penny of taxpayer funding.

The company’s five-year business plan, agreed by the States in 2021, forecast a small operating loss in 2022 and modest operating profits from 2023 onwards. It has so far exceeded those expectations, with much lower than anticipated operating losses in 2022 and, barring any unforeseen issues in the next three months, a healthy operating profit for this year. That will be reinvested in the business for customers’ benefit.

I will leave your readers to make up their minds on the merits or otherwise of a runway extension in Guernsey. However, in doing so, I suggest they take GAAG’s claims regarding Aurigny with a very large pinch of salt, as they are complete fiction.

Deputy Peter Roffey

President, States’ Trading Supervisory Board