Aurigny Air Services-2

[kcockayne]

I am merely trying to point out that, despite the new policy, AUR's fares are nowhere near the lower level (which are available elsewhere) that they might be if they had to face competition. AUR serve a small market, & that market wants three things; reliable services, a wider range of destinations & lower fares . It will never get everything that it wants - unless there is competition it will not get appreciably lower fares. But, if it gets competition it will lose reliability & security of routes; & probably lose its state owned airline. It will probably never get a much wider range of destinations unless the States keeps subsidizing AUR. And, if it were to face LCC competition, the need for increased subsidies would be re-emphasized. I can live with that realization, but I am not sure that the Guernsey resident fully appreciates the fact that their national airline cannot provide the low fares that he wants together with meeting what is, essentially, a public service obligation.

[Hermite]

G-COBO

I do sometimes feel sorry for Aurigny. The handlers at Manchester pushed back G-COBO into a catering truck. This has resulted in inevitable knock-on delays, which are no doubt very annoying for those affected. Aurigny posted the event on facebook with estimated times for the affected flights and someone waiting at EMA moans that they haven't been told what is happening and only get 1 hour free wifi. As far as I can see, the new ETD is on the EMA departure board. How much detail do people expect?

[Gurnard]

Fair points. I share your sentiments.
Many who comment here are not "knocking" Aurigny but simply stating facts. In this case surely the airline cannot be blamed in the slightest. Where was the person behind the a/c checking that pushback was safe, as at GCI?

[kcockayne]

Yes, they have recently had more than their fair share of bad luck. And, they are on a hiding to nothing with their obligations & their fares & the expectations of some of the Guernsey public. But, still they are loss making & subsidized - & likely to remain so ad infinitum. The fares referred to earlier are a genuine attempt to provide lower fares but cannot be equated to the ones available on a LCC. In that respect, they are lucky that a LCC is unlikely to offer them any competition. I wish them well, but cannot fail to notice the realities of their operation.

[Hermite]

I don't suppose that the public perception of Aurigny is helped by the headline in the Manchester Evening News that reads "Plane crashes into catering truck at Manchester Airport leaving wing 'embedded' in vehicle". Still, it probably attracts more readers than "Tug driver pushes aircraft into improperly parked catering truck" or something similar (I don't know the details of the event).

At least no major damage seems to have been done. G-COBO is on its way back to GCI now.

[Jerbourg]

Aurigny to work with EasyJet..

Aurigny Enters Partnership With EasyJet - Island FM


The States of Guernsey owned airline says working with ‘Europe’s leading airline easyJet’ will enable Aurigny to attract ‘more inward visitors to the islands by making Guernsey a destination option for the millions of UK and European customers using the easyJet website’.
In a statement, Aurigny says the partnership will launch soon.
Stand-alone tickets on the Aurigny network (with no easyJet route connection) will go on sale by the end of the year at easyJet.com. For islanders it will enable easy luggage transfers, and worry-free, guaranteed connections with easyJet flights at Gatwick. Should a passenger miss a connecting flight they will be transferred to the next available flight. Aurigny has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to be part of Worldwide by easyJet, which is the first global airline connections service of its kind. Aurigny is among the latest airlines to join the product which is available from the easyJet website. In the coming few weeks, Aurigny and easyJet will work on the implementation.
Further details, including a launch date, will be announced in due course. This is the latest announcement to be made by Aurigny since the publication of the recommendations from the States’ Strategic Review, which asked the airline to explore potential partnerships with other carriers.
Aurigny Commercial Director Malcolm Coupar has said:
“We are really excited to be involved in this new initiative with Gatwick’s biggest carrier easyJet. It is great news for people in Guernsey and will help reduce their worries about missing connecting flights. It will also help to promote Guernsey as a holiday and short breaks destination to the millions of visitors to the easyJet site, and make it easier to book a ticket to Guernsey from the wide range of places served by easyJet from Gatwick.”
Peter Duffy, Chief Commercial Office for easyJet, has said:
“The response to Worldwide by easyJet has been fantastic and we are excited to be meeting more latent customer demand through today’s new partnerships. The take up from customers in Jersey gives us confidence that we will see similar demand from Guernsey following our partnership with Aurigny. Partnering with Neos, La Compagnie and Corsair further extends the range of destinations we can serve our European customers and we will be working with our partners to roll-out the self-connect product to relevant airports.”

[kcockayne]

This is, apparently, a good development - but won't , necessarily, translate into lower fares on the AUR network. Will it ?

[Gurnard]

No. The advantage will be for folk making connecting flights and for those affected by delays. Someone who travels with AUR and misses their EZY flight (and has booked in this way) will be put on the next available.

EZY will still be EZY just as AUR will still be AUR. The earlier comparison between the village shop and Tesco is a good one. Look at aircraft utilization. One ATR72 can operate four returns in a day from GCI - to Manchester, Bristol, Stansted, and Manchester. However AUR often split the operation with one ATR doing Manchester and Bristol, with the other doing Stansted and Manchester. An ATR can thus be sitting on the tarmac at GCI for hours on end. Not economic sense perhaps, but at least back-up is there in case of another aircraft being u/s or fog descending.

Put together the EMB195, three ATR72s and one ATR42: you have 5 aircraft. One is regularly acting as a spare out of the five. EZY have a fleet of 279 Airbuses. If 20% were spare every day there would be about 55 Airbuses not flying! No, you can't compare the two outfits; just as chalk and cheese and Tesco and the village shop are different. It's unfair for anyone to try and put AUR in the low-cost league. But at least there is local commitment and they make a genuine attempt to get their pax home to Guernsey at the end of every day.

[Hermite]

EMA-GCI G-LERE

The EMA-GCI flight diverted to SOU this afternoon. Any ideas as to why? It was on the ground for less than an hour, so probably not too serious from the a/c point of view.

[cobopete]

LERE diversion

GEP today has mention of diversion due to a medical emergency on board. Patient received first aid from crew and passenger (a guernsey nurse). Patient said to be making a good recovery.

[Hermite]

G-COBO

G-COBO has just returned to GCI on the GCI-BRS flight. Followed by fire engines / blue flashing lights to the terminal. The web cams have frozen now so can't see what is going on.

Update - according to Aurigny's facebook page:

UNUSUAL WEATHER

Jersey MET Office has advised us that there have been unusual atmospheric conditions, as can be seen in the colour of the sky and sun. This phenomenon has been attributed to wildfires in Portugal and Spain, with smoke particles being carried over by ex-hurricane Ophelia.
We understand that multiple airlines have reported a smoky smell being experienced whilst flying through the area.
Our Bristol flight GR642, did return to Guernsey as a precaution, but this was before we received this information. The aircraft has been fully checked by engineers and will return to service.

We apologies to all passenger affected by the disruption.

[Harry Wayfarers]

The blue lights are occulting, not flashing! ... And there were numerous other diversions by numerous operators during the day due to the atmospheric conditions!

[Skipness One Echo]

What was the issue with G-SAYE? Is it just a hangar queen?
Is G-OAUR still with Aurigny?

[Hermite]

What makes you think that G-OAUR is no longer with Aurigny? Last weeks flights listed below:

20 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) GR233
20 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) GR230
20 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) GR217
20 Oct Southampton (SOU) Alderney (ACI) GR502
20 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) GR501
20 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) -
19 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) GR281
19 Oct Southampton (SOU) Alderney (ACI) GR564
19 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) -
19 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) GR563
19 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) GR262
19 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) -
19 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) -
19 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) -
19 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) -
18 Oct Alderney (ACI) -
18 Oct Southampton (SOU) Alderney (ACI) -
18 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) -
18 Oct Guernsey (GCI) - -
18 Oct Dinard (DNR) Guernsey (GCI) -
18 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Dinard (DNR) -
18 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) -
18 Oct Southampton (SOU) Alderney (ACI) GR502
18 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) GR501
18 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) -
17 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) -
17 Oct Southampton (SOU) Alderney (ACI) GR564
17 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) GR563
17 Oct Guernsey (GCI) - -
17 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) -
17 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) GR217
17 Oct Southampton (SOU) Alderney (ACI) GR502
17 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) GR501
17 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) -
16 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) GR281
16 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) -
16 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) -
16 Oct Dinard (DNR) Guernsey (GCI) -
16 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Dinard (DNR) -
16 Oct Alderney (ACI) Guernsey (GCI) GR217
16 Oct Southampton (SOU) Alderney (ACI) GR502
16 Oct Alderney (ACI) Southampton (SOU) GR501
16 Oct Guernsey (GCI) Alderney (ACI) GR202

[Skipness One Echo]

Ok thanks, my source was wrong. Currently looking at G-OAUR and what I assume is G-SAYE in the Anglo Normandy hangar. Same question, does G-SAYE fly then? G-OMAF is still flying with Aurigny to cover?

[cobopete]

GOMAF has been supplied to Aurigny by manufacturer as cover for the late delivery of the new aircraft, now I believe due for delivery second quarter next year. LGIS has been flying PAX over the past few days. Not sure what the position with SAYE is.

[Hermite]

G-SAYE was in service a little over a week ago. I suspect that they regard this somewhat as a spare a/c as it has a lower MTOW than the other a/c (they aren't all of the same type) and as such has reduced capacity.

[Gurnard]

Correct. After a period of inactivity G-SAYE took to the air for the second half of August while G-LGIS was not flying. When G-LGIS returned to service on 19th September, G-SAYE became less regular apart from 3 successive days in late September when G-OMAF was not flying.
G-SAYE has only flown on four days in October, the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 10th. If I recall correctly the 10th was for a medevac only.

[Gurnard]

G-HUET - Loganair Lease
Positioned GCI-DND yesterday prior to a 2 week lease to operate for Loganair between Dundee and Stansted.

[Hermite]

ACI - SOU

There is a rumour been posted on the Joey and Friends facebook page that Aurigny may be dropping the ACI-SOU service. I wonder if there is any truth in it.