No, Coates did not say he would keep the cream of the Trislanders on Alderney routes (by that he means Aurigny's Trislanders - his are, shall we say, somewhat passed it). He has said numerous times he wants the Tris out by 2012, yet he has not specified a replacement.
The closest he got to that was complaining about the $4m Twin Otters. This is justifiable - but he is talking new build Viking Air 400 variants. I know of some perfectly good mid to late '80s Twin Otters that do the same job (albeit with older equipment - but the flights still happen) for way under half the price.
The reason he may pull out of Alderney (or at least ACI - SOU) is that he has not specified a replacement, indeed saying there is no obvious replacement. That's not true. Looking at his timetables over the years, ACI flights have declined and declined further. BI hasn't even scheduled any extra Alderney Week flights this year. Aurigny say THANKS VERY MUCH and bag the pax. When Aurigny's gone, the pax will have nowhere to go at this rate. Get my meaning
