GUERNSEY
 

Jets to return to Guernsey

Flybe is planning to bring jets back to Guernsey.

Flybe Europe managing director Mike Rutter said the company was keen to start flying its Embraer 175's to the island.

Initially the aircraft will be used on the Gatwick route, if that was successful it would investiage using the aircraft on other routes like Southampton.

Jets have not been used since the BAe 146 was retired due to concerns over the strength of the runway.

Work to strengthen the runway is progressing well and expected to be complete by the end of March.

Courtesy: Guernsey Press

Just a quick question for the Summer schedule, what charter and summer only flights is Guernsey expecting, Air Berlin i assume are returning will Cityjet be returning with their RTM charter too? Also any other new routes in the pipeline?

No, end of an era there, I'm afraid. Flights transfer to Amsterdam with the new Blue Islands service. Connection via Jersey. I mentioned it in the Jersey thread a few weeks back.

In terms of Air Berlin - Stuttgart (new), Dusseldorf, Hannover and Frankfurt.

Other than that, Blue Islands to Glasgow and a once weekly flight to Norwich with Flybe. Can't think of anything else (unless you count non-stop services to Exeter and Birmingham on a Saturday!).

Geo73: I read that the Guernsey runway is being extended at the western end, does this mean an actual increase in the declared/available distances, or was it necessary for the new "runway end safety areas" rules, which might have reduced the existing distances?

Regards

EGCA

Guernsey Airport rebuild
 

The declared distance will remain at 4800ft but is being shifted to west to acommodate RESAs - as you suggest. The dip at the western end has been filled in and all aprons and taxiways wil be reconstructed. Project is just at its half-way point, currently running 5 weeks late due to weather/rain - but this is expected to be made up - completion next spring.

Good article describing work in today's Guernsey Evening Press.

Thanks for that. Presumably 4800 ft is adequate for the proposed jet ops with the Embraer 175.

EGCA

Jets to Gatwick
 

FlyBE propose to re-introduce jets (the 175) to Gatwick in March. Other routes maybe later.

Embraer 175 starts operating from 31st March.

Goodbye Flybe LGw
 

After years of being the unfavoured choice from the isle but with things looking up after launching their new Jet service; Flybe are upping sticks from LGW. What will follow? Will the island be worse off?

Apparently Aurigny were looking at taking some of the slack, either through increased frequency's or larger aircraft, would think the fares may jump a bit though!

I would have thought either a code share with BA or a twice daily BA jet would go down a dream

High frequency is a pretty key requirement for GCI's London services; this simply wouldn't be good enough.

Aurigny considering a Jet operation into LGW. Would we perhaps see Blue Islands also introduce a LCY service? Would allow some form of competition on the Guernsey-London market, a multiple daily service in an ATR42/72 must be feasible now, the finance industry have been begging for one!

On another forum, there is talk about GR taking over three BE E195 that are coming off the leases and are surplus to BE's requirements as a result of the LGW withdrawal.

Questions:

- is GCI E195-capable TORA and PCN-wise as far as shortish cross-channel hops to London are concerned?

- how many ATR72s frames are required for the current LGW operation? Certainly not three, so I am wondering why three E195 are targeted (if true).

Ref your second question 1 1/2 However they may be looking to increase rotations if they can secure further slots so that may absorb the second frame fully. Also this could be an opportunity for Aurigny to look at boosting capacity on other routes or even consider taking on a weakened Flybe.

Well, at the moment the capacity to LON is roughly 6+1 x 70 by GR and 5 x 80 by BE = 890 seats daily. 6+1 flights on an E195 would mean 826 seats daily. Not sure about the current loads of BE and GR, but I guess 826 seats a day instead of 890 would do as it would guarantee improved load factors for GR.

Declared distances are not a problem on flight to London or UK/near Europe, the 195 will do it fine. Currently the PCN of 22 will limit the range and payload quite badly, but I understand the PCN will be 36 when the runway works are completed, which is sufficient for just about all the traffic GCI is likely to get.

The runway works are due to be completed in the next 6 weeks.

What a mess
 

Flew through GCI last week and have to say the not so old airport is a real mess with all the apron being carved up. Can't believe they went to all the trouble of lifting the west of the runway without extending it at the same time.

There has been noise about Easyjet visiting Guernsey airport - presumably with a view to possibly opening a route or two in the future.

Is an A319 able to both land and depart credibly with close to 156 passengers on a route to southern England or would severe payload restrictions be required ?

Furthermore, would Easyjet A319s be in Guernsey's best interests as this would likely mean relatively low frequency flights, while squeezing out Aurigny / Flybe on the basis of lower unit cost per passenger ?

The reconfigured runway at GCI now offers TODAs and LDAs quite similar to those at SEN, with LDA being only 140m less than at SEN, so I should think the A319 could operate satisfactorily on routes from UK.

The figures are:
TORA: 09/1463, 27/1583
TODA: 09/1721, 27/1799 (same as SEN)
ASDA: 09/1463, 27/1583
LDA: 09/1463, 27/1463

easyJet have applied for a licence to operate from GCI, although the UK airport hasn't been divulged it's expected to be LGW

BBC News - Easyjet applies for Guernsey operating licence

That'll put the cat amongst the pidgeons at Aurigny and the States Govt!

Aurigny - we need to borrow lots of money to finance a new jet, so that a jet service to the island can be maintained post-Flybe

States -that makes sense because we deliberately remodelled the runway so it still isn't long enough for anything bigger than an Embraer, and don't worry, we can reject the Licence request!

Guernsey
 

Simply because The States Of Guernsey own Aurigny could they, would they, refuse EZY a licence ?
I doubt it. But, I could be wrong !

Aurigny are not buying a jet to simply maintain a jet service post-flybe. They are buying a jet to replace seats lost by flybe pulling out of gatwick. It was always about increasing Aurignys capacity.
Months of behind the scenes work has gone into researching what would be a viable aircraft for aurigny to operate with. The purchase was only happening because no other airline showed any interest at all in stepping in to operate this service.
Then a few weeks after the the aircraft is ordered, Easyjet knock on the door. What have they been doing for all these months? If Easyjet annouced they would continue the service when flybe left when the slot sale was publicised then you might find that aurigny would have not gone down this particular path and stuck to turboprops.

I hope Easyjet do operate to Gatwick. As for the purchase of the E195 this is probably still needed as I assume Easyjet will (1) not base an aircraft in Guernsey and (2) limit the operation to one or two flights per day (on the basis that they are going to operate 3 per day to Jersey). Flights would therefore not be aimed directly at the business market as there is unlikely to be an early departure or late arrival. Jersey's first Easyjet morning departure will not be until 0830 and the last departure from Gatwick will be at 1730. If one then considers that there are currently 160 seats available on the two 0700 departures from Guernsey and the same returning in the evening then the 122 seater E195 may still not be able to accommodate the potential number of passengers who might wish to travel at those times. At present Flybe operate 430 seats per day to Gatwick. Even with the Aurigny E195 operating 4 flights daily and the AT72-500 operating the remaining 2 flights there will be shortfall of 218 seats per day or 79,570 seats per year. Of course not all of these seats are likely to be filled. Let's hope it will work for the benefit of all. Interesting times.

Would easyJet perhaps be looking at serving GCI from a London airport other than LGW does anyone think?

Based on Ayline's seat figures, I think it would be difficult for the Guernsey Government to resist at least one daily flight from EZY. Furthermore, I would see the travelling public avoiding any prop services with jet equipment becoming available. So, a twice daily service from EZY would probably work.

Maybe Aurigny would have to have a rethink on its fare structure though.

Thurs 3/10 @ 1640 BST

FR24 shows a Titan 733, under AUR callsign, currentky inbound to GCI from STN.

Positioning to do a flight for them I guess.

Inbound to LGW as AUR610

One of the ATR's apparently had a bird strike and was taken out of service this afternoon.

Flybe Jet to leave.
 

Flybe to remove the ERJ175 from Guernsey on the 17th November, replaced with the Q400 unit from Aberdeen. The ERJ175 is off to Aberdeen to serve the Aberdeen-Manchester route..... That didn't last long.

Why would it? The Gatwick is stopping a few months after. The route is dead in the water

Easyjet has pulled its bid to run the Gatwick-Guernsey route.

The total cost publicly quoted for the current Guernsey airport upgrading work on runways, hardstandings, drainage, end safety zones, lighting, navigation aids, etc has been a figure of £80 million, if I recall correctly.

So I was rather surprised to see a much lower figure of £56 million stated in a recent Guernsey Weekly Press article about the work in progress by the main contractor Lagan. Does anyone know why there is such a large difference between the two; is the contract in two separate parts of £56 million and £24 million?

FlyBe have applied to operate GCI-LTN from March 2014:

http://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=84848&p=0

http://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=84845&p=0

JEA used to operate a double daily LTN-GCI/JER some years ago, I seem to remember the service having fairly good loads, so maybe this reserrection of the route will be a sucess.

I hope it works out for flybe. Its nice they will be doing more flights out of luton. But I hope that it will not be the only new one they start.richard

Would someone be kind enough to tell me whether transferring between scheduled flights at Guernsey is possible without exiting and then going through security again ?
I'd like to transfer from Alderney via Guernsey to Gatwick, no luggage, with an already printed boarding card. I accept the transfer is entirely at my own risk but would like to know if 20 mins between one flight arriving and the next departing is likely achievable with a bit of running or if it's absolutely impossible. I'll have a backup anyway - it's really to decide whether a very short connection at GCI is worth giving it a go...

I stand by to be corrected but I think everyone goes through arrivals and customs.

Then its a 1 min walk back to security which will then be q dependant how long that takes.

The aircraft will start boarding 20mins before departure so I don't think its practical.