BN Islander spotted doing a flypast of Braye beach this week. Air Alderney training flight apparently. Unwelcome competition for Aurigny or the excuse they want to dump the island altogether?

Not a very auspicious day for AUR yesterday on the first IOM service according to this https://guernseypress.com/news/2020/...f-man-service/

Problems with the ATR to SOU also, which required a Fire Service callout, followed by an airframe change.

I agree not a good start to the IOM service, however it has certainly been a success given the prevailing circumstances with over 5,000 seats sold according to the CEO when he was interviewed on Manx Radio this morning.

More flights have also been added in August to accommodate sports teams wanting to engage in inter-island competition. This means that on 16/8 and 23/8 there are three return flights.

Bit of a strange one but the GR700 GCI - IOM had to divert into Manchester for 2 hours this morning.

​​​​​​Been told ATC, Security etc were all in so the aircraft could land at 9.25 as it was a charter for the rugby teams going up to the Isle of Man for the day but no one turned up to open up the terminal as normally it wouldn't open until 11am on Sundays at the moment.

The passengers sat on the aircraft at Manchester for 2 hours or so but then they couldn't get hold of ground equipment to get th aircraft back out again so it was delayed some more.

Did I read Aurigny hVe agreed a daily slot to Heathrow from GCI from October?

I know they applied for 4 but didn't think they'd been allocated any.

To be confirmed...

According to a Facebook group run by someone who works at Heathrow they have filed for a daily flight with the Embraer from 25 October. If it goes ahead they will be based in Terminal 2.

GR906 Arrival at 15:15
GR907 Depature at 16:05

Presumably if it goes ahead they could use the ATR for now as I have seen that other airlines have been using their own ATRs into LHR recently.

Suggestion is Westjet and Ukraine International have also been awarded slots

May explain why STN appears to have been discontinued as the only airport still showing nothing for the winter. Though you'd think LGW would also be vulnerable to some capacity cut if using the Embraer.

LHR flight awarded
 

IslandFM announce today that Daily LHR flight has been awarded, 25Oct to 27Mar.
Pete

Actually they have turned them down as they were too expensive and in reality who was going to use them as Guernsey still requires 14 days quarantine from most countries including major parts of the UK

ACI-SOU
 

When I looked a couple of days ago it now appears that ACI-SOU isn't bookable over the winter. Is this correct?

Yes there are no flights to Alderney direct from the UK due to Covid restrictions, you can only fly via Guernsey and be subject to 14 days quarantine

It seems that the slots were being awarded only for the winter season with no guarantee that they could be extended through the summer. Would have been rather pointless starting a new route for just one winter even without the restrictions of Covid-19.

Aurigny are teaming up with Eastern to offer 1-stop UK services via Southampton in a similar way to Blue Islands and Loganair:

https://www.business-live.co.uk/econ...y-19055329.amp

Good news, we need this sort of co-operation to ensure our remaining regional airlines can survive.

Worldwide by Aurigny! Lol You have got to laugh!
They should be getting codeshares going with major carriers to enable through flights from LGW & MAN, whilst the Eastern link up is a step in the right direction Eastern aren't known for low fares or reliability. I'd be surprised if this is a success.

Business Live don't have the full quote. Try this:
https://aviationtribune.com/airlines...are-agreement/

Aurigny's senior management always claimed it was not possible to operate such code-share / interline agreements with other airlines because of differences in CRSs and excessive costs in handling passengers who missed their connections. Suddenly it now becomes possible ! Because Blue Islands have already taken the lead with their own Loganair tie-up. Blue Islands are always one step ahead of Aurigny.

This tie-up will help Guernsey's connectivity though there will be duplication of Manchester and Leeds/Bradford routes. But what is needed is a full integration into the likes of the BA network, ( just as BI did with Flybe ). Yet again, Aurigny's bosses claim that is not possible, though I suspect they are not willing to achieve anything where their own domains and reason d'être is threatened. To get a deal with BA, one needs both a commitment from the airline's senior executives and the relevant head of the STSB and CED, ( post-election ), to talk to BA and ask not whether it is possible but how much would it cost to make it happen !

For AUR to get a workable deal with BAW requires that the two networks connect somewhere - most appropriately Heathrow &/or Gatwick. Up to now, AUR have been unable to get into Heathrow (may change ?), & BAW are supposed to be withdrawing from Gatwick. Unless this situation changes, I cannot see where the two airlines can interline.

Watch this space is all I'll say.

Systems can and do easily work with interline on a city by city basis, so LON rather than LHR. There are ways to get between LGW/LHR, not very convenient for most but people do it.