Aurigny Air Services-2
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Yes, that is true. But, for me, it is cynical exploitation on the part of the airlines to charge as much as they do to avoid this problem ! I won’t pay the premium, regardless. But , I understand the feelings of those who do. That is what makes me a “real” Guernseyman !
I often put a value on convenience and time saving so if it costs me more to do something but it is easier and less time consuming than the alternative then I will pay it.
Yes. That is what a “real” Guernseyman is - & proud of it ! I sympathize with your viewpoint, but don’t ask me to ignore my genes.
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GCI-IOM Air Bridge:
The Guernsey and Isle of Man governments have agreed to move forward with the planned air bridge , which is expected to be the first established by any governments in the British Isles.
It is planned that Aurigny will operate flights from mid-July for an initial six-week period. An Aurigny spokesperson said they were still firming up the details, but were hoping to operate twice weekly rotations. A full schedule should be released next week.
The decision to form an air bridge follows talks last week between the chief ministers of Guernsey and the Isle of Man, as well as both governments’ Public Health teams.
The Guernsey and Isle of Man governments have agreed to move forward with the planned air bridge , which is expected to be the first established by any governments in the British Isles.
It is planned that Aurigny will operate flights from mid-July for an initial six-week period. An Aurigny spokesperson said they were still firming up the details, but were hoping to operate twice weekly rotations. A full schedule should be released next week.
The decision to form an air bridge follows talks last week between the chief ministers of Guernsey and the Isle of Man, as well as both governments’ Public Health teams.
Good luck to them - but it is not likely to help them reduce their £10m pound deficit for this year. Possibly, quite the opposite. You can always blame the “open skies policy” for their losses.
Join Date: Jun 2016
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You could blame open skies - of you were sitting on the Aurigny management side of the fence. But an independent view might raise the various management mistakes made in recent years. The Trislander replacement. The choice of outright purchase of the E195 ( when the more cost efficient CS100 was around the corner ). The purchase of the three new ATRs. The long lease of G-HUET. The setting up of an own handling unit at Gatwick. Pricing strategies. The Blue Island code-share fiasco. The LCY route. Other non-profitable and non-essential routes such as Leeds Bradford, Norwich etc. The competition on the Southampton route, the U-turn on the Jersey route. Need I go on ?
The IoM route - from mid-July to end of August, on a twice weekly ATR rotation, could be actually profitable if the pricing is right and the right days of the week are selected.
The IoM route - from mid-July to end of August, on a twice weekly ATR rotation, could be actually profitable if the pricing is right and the right days of the week are selected.
Nuweiba, I completely agree with you. The blaming of the “Open Skies” was made very much tongue in cheek. The policy itself is almost a complete nonsense as, since it was introduced, hardly any new routes have opened up & AUR have not really faced much competition - apart from Heathrow, which was always going to be temporary. There simply are not airlines queuing up to operate flights to Guernsey - even with the prospect of a totally unnecessary longer runway. AUR’s problems result from bad management & the fact that they are a Guernsey based airline owned by the Guernsey Government, which values the security of air routes more than it values a profitable airline. AUR don’t have to worry, though. The States will continue to throw money at them.
You could blame open skies - of you were sitting on the Aurigny management side of the fence. But an independent view might raise the various management mistakes made in recent years. The Trislander replacement. The choice of outright purchase of the E195 ( when the more cost efficient CS100 was around the corner ). The purchase of the three new ATRs. The long lease of G-HUET. The setting up of an own handling unit at Gatwick. Pricing strategies. The Blue Island code-share fiasco. The LCY route. Other non-profitable and non-essential routes such as Leeds Bradford, Norwich etc. The competition on the Southampton route, the U-turn on the Jersey route. Need I go on ?
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I'd like to know how much the LGW handling operation costs to run compared to using a handling agent & as I type this I'm thinking the same for GCI too?
Mark Darby was on local radio this morning blaming open skies for Aurigny's losses, one wonders how much longer he can pull the wool over the Governments eyes to hide his (IMO) bad management..?
You could blame open skies - of you were sitting on the Aurigny management side of the fence. But an independent view might raise the various management mistakes made in recent years. The Trislander replacement. The choice of outright purchase of the E195 ( when the more cost efficient CS100 was around the corner ). The purchase of the three new ATRs. The long lease of G-HUET. The setting up of an own handling unit at Gatwick. Pricing strategies. The Blue Island code-share fiasco. The LCY route. Other non-profitable and non-essential routes such as Leeds Bradford, Norwich etc. The competition on the Southampton route, the U-turn on the Jersey route. Need I go on ?
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I'd like to know how much the LGW handling operation costs to run compared to using a handling agent & as I type this I'm thinking the same for GCI too?
Mark Darby was on local radio this morning blaming open skies for Aurigny's losses, one wonders how much longer he can pull the wool over the Governments eyes to hide his (IMO) bad management..?
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Blaming 'open skies' is a joke. Open skies arrived and rather than opening new routes Aurigny decided to go into head long competition on two existing routes operated by Blue Islands offering £19.99 fares. Insufficient traffic for two carriers. Sorry Aurigny but you only have yourself to blame for the losses. Also, the shareholders must share some of the blame for a total failure to provide any oversight into what Aurigny was up to. Time for change.
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Heathrow, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Southend, Bournemouth, Liverpool, Cardiff.... OK... not all were successful and most will not re-appear after COVID. But probably none of them, with the exception of the Scottish routes, would probably have started up without the Quasi Open Skies policy. Aurigny would have blocked them all and BI would have blocked Bournemouth. And yet those two airlines are infamous for trying compete against each other. And Aurigny themselves, not only entering routes served by BI, also launched routes that competed with and drew traffic from their other routes, i.e. Norwich, Leeds and LCY.
But, at the end of the day, I am very much in favour of a state-owned airline, to protect a jurisdiction's interests, ( just as the harbour and airport is and just as I think a public-sector ferry service would be of benefit ).... it just needs better ( much better ) management. :-(
But, at the end of the day, I am very much in favour of a state-owned airline, to protect a jurisdiction's interests, ( just as the harbour and airport is and just as I think a public-sector ferry service would be of benefit ).... it just needs better ( much better ) management. :-(
Join Date: Jun 2016
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If they do get them, I expect they will lose millions. They will once again take traffic away from the Gatwick route, and if they compete once again on the Southampton route, that, in turn will draw traffic from bith Gatwick and Southampton. Airport charges at Heathrow are so much more than Gatwick... and Aurigny have no interline/code-share/jv agreements and that is imperative for both LHR and LCY. Get a jv agreement with BA, and one is talking a different matter : shift all Aurigny booking onto the BA website and have through connections worldwide via Manchester and Heathrow.
Wonder what will happen with the Birmingham route. Will it go ahead, will it replace EMA or will Aurigny try and serve both ?
Nuweiba, once again I have to agree with you - some new routes have resulted from “Open Skies” - I should have specified “viable new routes”. However, I do not think that most of the routes that you quoted are particularly “viable”. At the best, they are summer only routes & operate maybe once or twice a week. The main exception was Heathrow, but that was only a “bookkeeping exercise” by BEE. I suppose that AUR could try & take it up - but that requires the slots. Whether, or not, they could make it work only time would tell. However, there is definitely the demand for this route to justify it being tried. As for the other routes, the opportunity for AUR to operate some of them is there but, they are not money spinners. Can AUR turn them into money makers ? And do they have the aircraft available to operate them ? Time will tell.
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Nuweiba, once again I have to agree with you - some new routes have resulted from “Open Skies” - I should have specified “viable new routes”. However, I do not think that most of the routes that you quoted are particularly “viable”. At the best, they are summer only routes & operate maybe once or twice a week. The main exception was Heathrow, but that was only a “bookkeeping exercise” by BEE. I suppose that AUR could try & take it up - but that requires the slots. Whether, or not, they could make it work only time would tell. However, there is definitely the demand for this route to justify it being tried. As for the other routes, the opportunity for AUR to operate some of them is there but, they are not money spinners. Can AUR turn them into money makers ? And do they have the aircraft available to operate them ? Time will tell.
Join Date: Jan 2008
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I will miss that Flybe Heathrow connection. Found it so much more convenient for me. I like T2 and usually stayed at the Holiday Inn Express at T4 whereas before I used to use the Hi Express at Croydon when using Aurigny via Gatwick. But it relied on that subsidy from the States to keep it going, as the flights never seem to get ( on average ) over 2/3 full - it seems that when tickets went over the 60 - 70 quid each way mark, there were few takers.
Agreed - last summer I used the Heathrow flight 6 or 7 times as it was really convenient and also Terminal 2 was a joy compared to Gatwick's South Terminal.
A few times on the return flight the loads were in the low 70s but I mainly flew back to the island on Sunday evenings which seemed to be mainly locals who had been in London for the weekend.
According to Isle of Man news, prices for the GCI - IOM will be announced shortly and the booking will be available from Wednesday. I was due to be up in Edinburgh at the start of September but can't see that happening so will probably go up to the Isle of Man for 3 nights for a change of scenery instead.
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Interesting Jersey are opening up next week with testing on arrival. BA to resume flights initially to LHR then back to LGW
Have GCI considered this ; seems a shame they have totally cut themselves off ; I know their tourist industry is relatively small
Have GCI considered this ; seems a shame they have totally cut themselves off ; I know their tourist industry is relatively small
Join Date: Jun 2016
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Lucky Jersey :-)
Have just searched further and it seems they will only fly 4 days a week, change back to LGW 1st August and then continue 4 days a week but with twice daily flights.