Originally Posted by
kcockayne
Latest projections for AUR are a £9.7m loss next year - to add to £7m for this year & £4m for last year. The States of Guernsey are attempting to determine what exactly is in its & AUR's best interests to make the airline a "going concern". Meanwhile, the "Runway Extenders" are continuing to push their pet project on the promise of enabling low cost carriers, larger aircraft & lower fares to be offered. Pie in the sky ! Larger aircraft, low cost airlines & lower fares will only materialize as a result of a large increase in demand. With a population of 65,000 people & a declining tourism industry, this will not happen. If the States want AUR to continue to operate, & especially if they want it to be profitable, then the last thing that they should be doing is extending the runway & letting low cost carriers operate to the island. AUR could never compete with Easy Jet etc. AUR could never make a profit in those circumstances. Even if they maintain their monopoly on the Gatwick route AUR will struggle to become profitable. The only way for them to achieve that would be to cut the fleet to three ATR 72s, drop the E195 & drop all their other routes, with the possible exception of Southampton. Discuss .....
Discuss...... Hardly any need as your comments make pretty good sense! Consider how Aurigny's aircraft are utilized. Often an ATR flies for
half a day only - two round trips from GCI. Aircraft seem to have considerable leisure time. EasyJet don't keep their aircraft on the ground; they use them all day and into the night! Also, you're right that EasyJet won't be interested in GCI for the simple reason that the island is not a big enough market. Well - on a positive note those new ATR72s will soon be on the way. It will be interesting to see whether their fog-breaking qualities will make the investment really worthwhile.
