Hi all,
You might know that Channel Islands airline Aurigny Air Services (world's largest operator of the Britten-Norman Trislander and Britten-Norman Islander launch customer) might be sold by its owners, the Guernsey government, to Blue Islands, its 10 year old competitor (in different guises).
At the helm of BI is Derek Coates, who wants to phase out the Trislanders by 2011, but specifies no replacement. He complains that a new Twotter costs $4m.
Bearing in mind that the replacement would have to fit into an 880m runway at Alderney, what are your thoughts as to the most economical replacement? He also complains that avgas will be gone by 2017.
LET410, Dornier 228, Islander (smaller - fares would go up), Sukhoi SU80, GECI Skylander to name but a few of the replacements, but do the Trislanders really have to be retired? Yes, they are on average 35 years old and he says that they can only do 39000 cycles. Is this so?
Islander wings need minimum adaptation so these are no longer a problem. He says they could go on for a decade but wants them out ASAP.
Any thoughts (except for the sooner those three engined beasts are confined to Duxford and the like, the better
).