Mr Michael Harrison
The White House
Cotil de Val
Alderney
GY9 3X
23rd July, 2014
Dear Mr Harrison,
Your letter dated 21st July, 2014
Thank you for your letter. To be frank, I’m not sure where to start with my reply as there appear to be so many gaps in the logic of your proposal or your understanding of what it takes to run an airline.
We are very disappointed and somewhat alarmed that you have been seeking to ‘whip up’ hysteria in Alderney based on such a flimsy appreciation of the requirements; stating as fact that Aurigny will be seeking to cancel the Alderney-Southampton route and raise prices (not true); and not presenting any cogent arguments as to why you and your colleagues would do a better job of running the Alderney services than Aurigny.
One of the key shareholder objectives for Aurigny, set by T&R, is to protect the lifeline routes to/from Alderney (as well as Gatwick). The reason that Aurigny is owned by the States is to ensure this through direct ownership and control. Flybe’s recent withdrawal from the Gatwick route vindicated this position. The same is true of the Alderney operation. Over the years, airlines have tried to make a go of the Alderney route (most recently ‘Rockhopper’). When they have failed, Aurigny has been there to ensure security of service.
You will need to test this with T&R, but I am certain that they will not view your proposal as offering a credible, secure service to the Alderney Community that will not run a high risk of failure. Should Aurigny dismantle its infrastructure that support its Alderney services, Alderney would be left extremely exposed. I do not believe that this would be in the best interests of the community.
Yesterday we attended the States of Alderney meeting. We left the meeting with a clear impression that they were not supportive of your proposals.
Your proposals
In brief, you and your colleagues seem to have overlooked some critical requirements and ingredients that would make your proposal credible. Having been involved in starting several airlines in my career I feel I can offer a fairly well informed perspective on this.
Firstly there is no description of any benefit that would accrue from your proposal – other than that Aurigny would have realised £4 from the sale of the aircraft. Surprisingly you also fail to mention the major benefit to Aurigny – a reduction in its losses of £900,000 p.a..
Further, there is:
Your financial assessment provided thus far of our “£200k p.a. profitability” suggests that you should acquaint yourselves more fully with modern airline economics before this is prepared.
- No indication that you would be able to satisfy the CAA’s ‘financial fitness’ requirements
- An erroneous assumption that Aurigny’s AOC could be transferred. It cannot. You would need to apply to the CAA/EASA for a new AOC, presenting a whole host of operational and financial data. You would also need to propose appropriately experienced and qualified ‘post holders’, acceptable to the CAA/EASA and demonstrate that you could establish a professional airline operation.
Other facts that you should consider:
- We have been previously advised by Britten Norman when trying to sell the Trislanders that the maintenance programme that Aurigny operates the Trislanders under is unique to Aurigny and is not transferrable with the aircraft (the last such an enquiry yielded no response from BN). In short this means that when the aircraft leave the Aurigny operation, the aircraft would revert to B-N’s standard maintenance programme and normal structural lives would apply.
- You glibly suggest that we should also transfer air crew and ground staff to you. Having tested the idea with a number of them, your suggestion would not be welcomed!
- The Aurigny brand is not for sale.
I could go on. By all means approach T&R but as far as Aurigny is concerned, I am sure that the majority of Alderney’s residents will be reassured that Aurigny has no intention of handing over the Alderney lifeline services to you and your colleagues.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Darby
Chief Executive Officer
p.s. On a personal note, I have been informed that some statements were made against me personally during your meeting on the 15th of July were potentially slanderous. I will be carefully reviewing the DVD of the meeting.