Air Alderney

[davidjohnson6]

This thread is for discussion about Air Alderney, so hopefully the main Alderney thread can be left to discussions about Alderney airport

Based on a Facebook post, it seems that a start date of July is not going to happen - the airline reports itself as being a few months behind its original plan.

https://en-gb.facebook.com/AirAlderney/

Anyone have any opinion as to when (or even whether) Air Alderney really will take on the commercial responsibility of running an airline ?

[davidjohnson6]

Anyone know what is going on with Air Alderney ? Am beginning to wonder if somebody is having second thoughts about the whole enterprise

[kcockayne]

Yes, it would appear to be a real "money spinner" ! They do have a BN2 painted up in their colour scheme, though I don't believe that they have started to operate any services, yet. When they do, they are hardly likely to make more than pennies from a single route to & from Jersey!

[toscana24]

I had this e mail from them a week ago....


Thank you for your enquiry and please may we apologise for the delay in responding to you.

We are working hard towards progressing with the start of our new routes however sadly we are currently experiencing a delay in being issued with the relevant licences.

Due to this delay we are unable to confirm our start dates, timetables or fares at present, however we will be flying from Solent(free airport parking) and Brighton to Alderney.

We have saved your enquiry and will respond to you in duecourse when further information is confirmed.

We thank you for your patience and continued support.

Kind Regards

Air Alderney Limited

[Harry Wayfarers]

This sounds like Brighton City airways MkII.

Solent Airport! ... The BIG reason why SOU is successful is because it has an airport rail station on a line from London, I don't know the stastics but a LOT of it's passengers shall be arriving/departing by train and not originating necessarily in the SOU area, just compare SOU and BOH figures, SOU has a rail station, BOH doesn't.

Lee-on-Solent on the other hand is about as remote as it is possible to be, passengers can fly to GCI, to then take a quickie connection to ACI, from pretty much anywhere in England, why on god's earth would they want to drive all the way to/from Lee-on-Solent to fly on an Airfix kit?

And as for Shoreham-by-Sea, JEA (aka Flybe) couldn't make JER work with Twotters, Brighton City Airways is another story and now Air Alderney want to fail also.

I'll give them about the same, perhaps slightly longer, life expectancy on these routes as BCA on their Beauvais route ... that I don't recall ever made it to Beauvais!

[Expressflight]

Wasn't it Pontoise not Beauvais? I recall that the French wouldn't provide Customs at Pontoise and the flights had to route via Rouen or Le Touquet. That fact alone meant that the service stood no chance of success, regardless of anything else.

[Harry Wayfarers]

Yes you are quite correct, how could I possibly forget a three letter identifier as POX :)

[kcockayne]

One or two more routes in prospect than I thought. They will find it extremely difficult (as all airlines have done) to make any money operating out of Alderney. But, at least they have the only aircraft that is ever likely to have a chance of doing so. I wish them well & hope that they make a go of it.

[Harry Wayfarers]

Whoever came up with those routes does not have a sound commercial knowledge, a rule of thumb is that at least one airport of the two needs to be a mainstream player and whilst ACI serving an island puts it in a slightly different category it is not a mainstream player such as JER and GCI whilst with ACI's limited facilities aircraft types and ranges are restricted.

ACI/SOU is perfect, the people who work at Aurigny or SOU may suggest how many of that route's passengers jump straight on a train heading towards London, Air Alderney could have come up with BOH as an alternative, OK BOH doesn't have a rail station but if they could undercut Aurigny on fares they might get a few passengers but coming up with a route to Lee-on-Solent ... Come on, stop messing us around and admit that this is a schoolboy project!

And as for Shoreham-by-Sea, being an ex West Sussex dweller I think that they are reckoning upon ESH being a viable alternative to London/Gatwick and London itself ... Trust me, it's not, Brighton City Airways liked to believe that and they are history and if Air Alderney continue with the mentality of another schoolboy project then they shall soon be history also.

[toscana24]

Harry W
Time will prove you right or wrong but I personally do not think Lee on Solent is a bad idea at all. Living in both SW London and on Alderney I know that getting to the departure airfield is costly – parking at SOU airport is extortionate (and more so recently – the cost this year being roughly double last year – £82.50 for 15 days in November). The alternative train service is time consuming and fares on South Western are c £40 a person return. And going by rail for me involves a bus to the station, a change of train at Woking or Basingstoke and invariably no seats on the (fast) Waterloo to Weymouth train.
When I do drive to SOU I always go down the A32 Meon Valley route which without turning off towards Bishops Waltham and Eastleigh pretty well ends up at Lee!
So a quiet airport that I can drive to as easily as SOU and park for nothing sounds a pretty good bet. But, of course, each to their own and being able to drive to Lee or take advantage of a free transfer service from Fareham Station (I think that was spoken of) might well work. Whether Shoreham will work I agree is more debatable.
You have to add into the mix the reliability of the service (NB Aurigny with their pool of 4 Do228s have been pretty good these last few months) and the nature of the staff – there being one Aurigny employee at SOU who has a distinct customer unfriendly approach that must make him the best marketing agent for Air Alderney (NB the other two are brilliant by the way).
So in short I will certainly give Air Alderney ex Solent a try and wish them luck.

[Harry Wayfarers]

toscana24,

Have you checked the Solent Airport website ... They have a special pilot path thru a security gate and to the beach in two minutes, and just outside the gate is a shack where they can get their fish & chips and ice cream ... Agreed, SOU is frigging useless :)

[toscana24]

Thanks Harry
Sounds like a good idea - leave kids on beach at Lee; fetch them when plane is about to depart. 40 mins to ACI and then 5 min drive to the beach there. 1 hour beach to beach!

[Tagron]

There are a number of issues that would need to be resolved before Solent could be considered as a viable airport for scheduled services.

Right now there are no navigation aids or IAPs. No runway or approach lighting. No Air Traffic Control, only an A/G radio service. No terminal. RFF only A1 with A2 on request.

No doubt in time all these issues could be addressed though at a cost. There is certainly development planned for Solent but it appears to be centred on g.a. I have seen nothing published that indicates development for potential airline operations (unless I am missing something), though one might have assumed the airline would have had some contact with the airport operator to discuss its plans.

Meanwhile it appears Air Alderney have taken delivery of their first aircraft with a second to follow shortly, as reported on the Aurigny thread.

[Hermite]

Does anyone know what is happening with Air Alderney? G-BJED returned to Scotland late last year, and I see that the a/c is offered for sale on the Cormack website (Britten Islander BN2T for Sale | Cormack Aircraft Services, Specialist light aircraft maintenance, Glasgow (http://cormackaircraft.com/gallery2119.html) - it may be out of date, of course). Their facebook page has also disappeared.

[kcockayne]

Playing at being an airline, perhaps. Is it all make believe & , will it ever happen ? My guess is that it is all fantasy &, if it ever happens, won’t last for long. I can hardly hold my breath !

[Geo73]

In yesterdays Guernsey Press there was a notice that Air Alderney had applied for a license (GTB154) to transport post and freight between Alderney & Guernsey.

It has been reported that one of the ex. Ghana Air Force Defender's is in a hangar at Biggin Hill in full Air Alderney c/s marked up as 2-BILL.

[kcockayne]

Interesting news, & a good indication that they might be serious. Don’t get me wrong - I wish them well, & they might very well end up as the Alderney successors to Aurigny; but this airline will never be a “money spinner” (with any of the routes that they might operate). Their best chance of survival would be if AUR does abandon their routes to the island. Other than that ? I fear for them.

[davidjohnson6]

Air Alderney now seem to have put plans for a fixed wing operation on hold and decided to charter a helicopter instead.
Anyone understand what the overall plan is ? I'm scratching my head on this a bit

[Hermite]

There is a press release copied on their facebook page that gives their current situation. It all sounds rather confusing:

Press Release 12/02/2018

We are pleased to announce that the States of Alderney have issued Air Alderney with our route licence to carry freight and passengers from Alderney - Jersey - Alderney.
Furthermore, subject to the decision under consideration of the Guernsey Air Transport Licensing Board; the States of Alderney have also granted us our route licence to carry freight from Alderney - Guernsey - Alderney.
We thank all our supporters that wrote messages of support to share with the Guernsey Licensing Board and continue to keep our fingers crossed.
We are one step further by gaining some of our route licences however still have a few more steps to confirm before being able to publish our timetable and fares.
We can however confirm that we will be commencing with our Jersey and Cherbourg routes of which we will be able to advise operation dates very soon!
We are still working towards obtaining our own AOC with 2-REG however during our application process we were advised that the CAA would no longer issue an Air Transport Licence to new AOC’s issued by the 2-REG. In turn this would mean that we would not be able to fly to the UK or France should we obtain our AOC with 2-REG presently.
We therefore looked at alternative means to enable our operations to commence as soon as possible and in order to meet the requirements of Alderney and its people.
We were able to secure a lease with Heli Holland in order to lease a EC-155 helicopter with crew. This aircraft is registered on Heli Holland’s Dutch AOC and will be re-positioned to Alderney in due course.
Furthermore, we were able to enter into an agreement with Ben Air in order for our BN-2T Islander aircraft to be registered on their Danish AOC.
The above has not deterred us from obtaining our own AOC with 2-REG and we are hopeful that the CAA and DFT find a resolve to this issue soon at which point we would be operating all our routes under Air Alderney’s own AOC.
Thank you again to all our supporters.

[Jerbourg]

I bet the per kilo freight rates for a rotary winged operation are something to behold!

[jensdad]

The views of an interested outsider here...

Is noise pollution not going to be an issue? The peaceful natural environment is Alderney's main attraction to visitors (like me last summer!). The Dorniers are a little noisy but the noise is not half as pervasive as that of an EC-155. And as has been mentioned, freight costs on a heli must be eye-watering!

They seem to be having difficulties getting access to the UK and France markets with 2-reg aircraft. I'm not an expert on this stuff, but if so why not just get their aircraft G-reged?

By coincidence, Isles of Scilly Travel announced yesterday that they are starting a heli service from Land's End to St Mary's (and thus increasing noise pollution in this year's holiday destination :) ). I'm struggling to see the benefits of heli over fixed wing...

[kcockayne]

Noise pollution ? Yes, but I don’t think that there will be so many flights operated that this will be a serious problem. More to the point, what a way to establish a profitable new service - not ! If Air Alderney were intent on setting themselves up to fail, they couldn’t have thought of a better way to do it than using a helicopter instead of a BN2 !

[01475]

What was their purpose in life and reason for existing supposed to be? Do I remember incorrectly in that it was supposed to be that they could be cheaper?

[Harry Wayfarers]

jensdad

A heli operation to St. Mary's or Tresco?

[jensdad]

It appears to be just to St. Mary's but the website isn't too clear. Not sure if we're allowed to post links to commercial websites here, but it's on the 'Isles of Scilly Travel' website, there's a tab at the top entitled 'Helicopter'.


Sorry for thread drift!

[lotus1]

Must be a new just eat service starting up with the helicopter or a very expensive bag of jersey royals saying that the recent curry takeaway service to France from Portland anything can happen

[Hermite]

Is anything actually happening with this company?

[canberra97]

Must be a new just eat service starting up with the helicopter or a very expensive bag of jersey royals saying that the recent curry takeaway service to France from Portland anything can happen

Regarding the recent 'curry takeaway service' to France your referring to it was from Lee on Solent to an airport near Bordeaux unless I'm mistaken and there was a similar one by helicopter from Portland to France I'm unaware of.

[Jerbourg]

From the Air Alderney Facebook page today

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/p50x50/26231809_380932165710604_7206929383438663096_n.png?_nc_cat=0&oh=9ec5e2ff9ce146cc300435186703a4a7&oe=5B366B67



Air Alderney Ltd
3 hrs ·

Press Release 06/04/18
We are pleased to advise that our Alderney to Lee-on-Solent and Guernsey to Alderney route licences have been approved.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who wrote in support of our applications for these routes.
We have been able to re-arrange our meeting with Jersey Airport which was initially cancelled due to the snow fall.
Whilst Jersey Airport are keen to accommodate Air Alderney it is clear that the applicable airport charges which will be incurred due to our aircraft arriving from Alderney which does not have the CAA recommended security screening, will be high. We are therefore working with the relevant authorities on how best these charges can be revised so that they are not applied to the fare/passenger.
We are also still liaising with the Guernsey Authorities in order to establish a check in area at Alderney Airport. Due to the length of time this is taking, we are sadly and rather frustratingly unable to confirm start dates of our operations as without a check in desk we cannot accommodate our passengers.
Once the location of the check in area is agreed by the Guernsey Authorities, we will need some time to equip this area accordingly.
Further to speculation resulting from a recent article; We would further like to take this opportunity to clarify that our BN2-T Islander Aircraft have been inspected by both the CAA and 2-REG and are fully compliant with all regulations resulting in the aircraft holding all relevant documentation.
On a more positive note, one of our aircraft will be returning to base in the coming weeks which will see the commencement of our ‘soft launch’. Our flight crew will be busy familiarising themselves with the routes and destination airports during this time.
We would like to thank the States of Alderney for their assistance in issuing our route licences.
Once again, we cannot thank you enough for all your support. It is taking longer than expected but please know that we are still 100% committed and we will get there

[Hermite]

Still very quiet on the Air Alderney front. I wonder if it will stay that way.

[TCAS FAN]

Here on the other side of 50N its very quiet at Lee on Solent (aka Solent Airport). No ATC or AFIS (just Air/Ground), no instrument approach procedures and apparently no security infrastructure to support scheduled public transport flights. Who is going to pay for these? Hopefully the cost will not go on to my council tax bill!

I could be tempted to speculate on pigs may fly, but remember that they did at Lee on Solent not so long ago!

[Planespeaking]

Here on the other side of 50N its very quiet at Lee on Solent (aka Solent Airport). No ATC or AFIS (just Air/Ground), no instrument approach procedures and apparently no security infrastructure to support scheduled public transport flights. Who is going to pay for these? Hopefully the cost will not go on to my council tax bill!

I could be tempted to speculate on pigs may fly, but remember that they did at Lee on Solent not so long ago!
Air Alderney Islander parked on stand at SEN today. The start of an Alderney/London route?

[Aero Mad]

G-BJED departed in front of me from Biggin earlier this week. Didn't catch where it was off to but it's been around and about these last few weeks. No news besides

[kcockayne]

Air Alderney Islander parked on stand at SEN today. The start of an Alderney/London route?
I still think that this is all “pie in the sky”. Someone playing at running an airline. I could be wrong, though. Time will tell. I am still not holding my breath !

[Hermite]

I still think that this is all “pie in the sky”. Someone playing at running an airline. I could be wrong, though. Time will tell. I am still not holding my breath !
It is interesting to see that according to G-INFO the a/c is owned by Islander Aircraft Ltd, Cumbernauld, and is currently offered for sale on Cormack's website.

[Flightrider]

The maintenance programme on the Islander and Trislander is such that anything other than very short sectors is a no-no. Alderney-London (regardless of the airport!) is a complete no-hoper.

TCAS FAN, there is no requirement for security on an aircraft of less than 10t MTOW (which the Islander is by a long way). If commercial services from Lee on Solent were to be launched, they could be flown VFR and with no security, subject to a safety case for both - provided that the airfield remains licensed as it is today. No need for taxpayer involvement!

[Jersey32D]

The maintenance programme on the Islander and Trislander is such that anything other than very short sectors is a no-no. Alderney-London (regardless of the airport!) is a complete no-hoper.

TCAS FAN, there is no requirement for security on an aircraft of less than 10t MTOW (which the Islander is by a long way). If commercial services from Lee on Solent were to be launched, they could be flown VFR and with no security, subject to a safety case for both - provided that the airfield remains licensed as it is today. No need for taxpayer involvement!

Skybus for example do not employee any security measure at either Lands End or St Mary's for commercial services on the Islander, other than the usual dangerous goods questions by check in staff.

[TCAS FAN]

No ATC or AFIS (just Air/Ground), no instrument approach procedures and apparently no security infrastructure to support scheduled public transport flights.

I stand corrected on the security issue. With the changeable UK weather, in the absence of IAP cannot see that a VFR ony operation is going to be a commercially viable operation.

[Hermite]

Air Alderney have just posted a picture of their fleet at Biggin Hill Airshow. It looks like an odd collection.

https://scontent.fgci1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/40205756_528273644309788_8434024861088612352_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=259e9e281c333fa3d57f84dd3cbe9921&oe=5C2E99A4

[virginblue]

I am always surprised how small the Bo 105 is in real life....

[Flightrider]

A Westland Wessex in the fleet? Really?

Next thing is the fleet will be at Duxford, not Biggin.

[canberra97]

The Westland Wessex obviously isn't part of the Air Alderney lineup.

The Westland Wessex HC.2 registration number 9G-AEL former XV729 is on display at Biggin Hill.

[kcockayne]

The Westland Wessex obviously isn't part of the Air Alderney lineup.

The Westland Wessex HC.2 registration number 9G-AEL former XV729 is on display at Biggin Hill.
A bit of humour there - methinks.

[Aero Mad]

I believe Danny Brem-Wilson is involved in returning two Wessexes to flight (XT761 and XT771). G-INFO says he is also the registered owner of G-BRYC (formerly WA539). I happened to see G-BJED landing at Le Touquet on Saturday afternoon, apparently on a charter.

[aurigny72]

According to the Air Alderney Facebook page today they now have their AOC and plan to start ops in Feb 2020 from Alderney to Jersey, subject to route licences from the States of Alderney. They also stated they have added two more Islanders to their fleet, i wonder if this will now at last happen or is it just a fantasy island airline.

[Gurnard]

Wonder whether these will be ex Skybus machines which were reported as being sold to Alderney next year.

[aurigny72]

Yes that is a possibility Gurnard i suppose we will have to wait and see if this is true, they also stated that they hoped to get their route licence in early December so should be any day now.

[Nuweiba]

The picture of the Islander on their FB page is of G-HEBO... ex G-BUBK built 1995... and thus not ex Skybus.

What happened to their BN-2T 2-BILL or G-BJED ?

Think a wise decision to go with the piston engine Islanders - faster turn-arounds.

Very interesting developments.

[kcockayne]

Well, it’s been on all the C.I. media - Air Alderney will be starting on Alderney. - Jersey in February. However, the chances of making any money on this route are minuscule. They would have to capture a lot of the Alderney - Guernsey interline traffic to do so. Maybe they will, but I think that is unlikely. What looks likely is a twice a day service (16 pax) - anymore frequency than that would bleed them dry - & an a/c utilization of about 90 mins per day; & a fairly steep fare structure. Where else are they going to get a/c utilization from ? I think that their only chance of survival would be if they could totally replace AUR in Alderney. That is IF they do actually start the service & maintain it. Both appear unlikely to me.

[Tim Finding]

A search of the CAA AOC Holders and 2 REG AOC Holders reveals no evidence of Air Alderney having been issued an AOC. However, piggybacking on someone else’s AOC is not out of the question. The registration ‘2 BILL’ also does not show up following a 2 REG search and the Islander once sporting the Air Alderney decals seems to have been returned to the owners! Make of that what you will!

My understanding is that Skybus are planning to make their Islanders redundant in March 2020.

Air Alderney also seem intent on raising funds through their website AlderneyAirAmbulance.org and give the appearance of being very active with their privately owned BO105! At this point words fail me....

[toscana24]

A search of the CAA AOC Holders and 2 REG AOC Holders reveals no evidence of Air Alderney having been issued an AOC. However, piggybacking on someone else’s AOC is not out of the question. The registration ‘2 BILL’ also does not show up following a 2 REG search and the Islander once sporting the Air Alderney decals seems to have been returned to the owners! Make of that what you will!

My understanding is that Skybus are planning to make their Islanders redundant in March 2020.

Air Alderney also seem intent on raising funds through their website AlderneyAirAmbulance.org and give the appearance of being very active with their privately owned BO105! At this point words fail me....

I have a house on Alderney and fly there regularly from Southampton on Aurigny. In summer the flights are invariably full but in winter on each of my last 4 flights there have only been between 5 and 8 pax - i.e. an Islander sized load. Bad weather is also a real issue for any flights into or out of ACI.

A link between ACI and JER might work (as the latter has some good international links, not least the Condor boat to France). Yes the frequency could be an issue. A link to UK (Lee on Solent was the plan) might also work if the details could ever be sorted out. A piston engine (ex Skybus?) islander between ACI/JER or GCI for a 10/15 min hop is surely workable but the same to Lee from ACI might be too slow (cf the original turbine Islander idea).

The Aurigny operation is so tainted (in the minds of the Alderney people) that many doubt that they can continue long term. Yet their Dorniers are a vast improvement over the Trislanders (Islanders) and their pilots are as professional as ever. And if people have a choice between 30 mins in a Dornier to SOU v 45 mins in a far noisier Islander / Trislander the answer will be inevitable.

Yes everyone is sceptical that Air Alderney will get off the ground but if they can make ACI/JER work then other scenarios might open up. The current lack of flights is crippling the island's tourism.

[kcockayne]

I have a house on Alderney and fly there regularly from Southampton on Aurigny. In summer the flights are invariably full but in winter on each of my last 4 flights there have only been between 5 and 8 pax - i.e. an Islander sized load. Bad weather is also a real issue for any flights into or out of ACI.

A link between ACI and JER might work (as the latter has some good international links, not least the Condor boat to France). Yes the frequency could be an issue. A link to UK (Lee on Solent was the plan) might also work if the details could ever be sorted out. A piston engine (ex Skybus?) islander between ACI/JER or GCI for a 10/15 min hop is surely workable but the same to Lee from ACI might be too slow (cf the original turbine Islander idea).

The Aurigny operation is so tainted (in the minds of the Alderney people) that many doubt that they can continue long term. Yet their Dorniers are a vast improvement over the Trislanders (Islanders) and their pilots are as professional as ever. And if people have a choice between 30 mins in a Dornier to SOU v 45 mins in a far noisier Islander / Trislander the answer will be inevitable.

Yes everyone is sceptical that Air Alderney will get off the ground but if they can make ACI/JER work then other scenarios might open up. The current lack of flights is crippling the island's tourism.
Yes, but it is a huge ask. I don't think that you can seriously operate an airline with only one route carrying what , 25 pax per day (considerably less in winter)? The Alderney people are peed off with AUR, but they are not going to get anything better, or cheaper. Certainly not with Air Alderney. To make the thing even remotely viable, they need more routes, better a/c, & a monopoly.

[toscana24]

Yes, but it is a huge ask. I don't think that you can seriously operate an airline with only one route carrying what , 25 pax per day (considerably less in winter)? The Alderney people are peed off with AUR, but they are not going to get anything better, or cheaper. Certainly not with Air Alderney. To make the thing even remotely viable, they need more routes, better a/c, & a monopoly.

Yes , of course you are right. Daily pax in summer on the SOU/ACI route must be some 100/140 pax sectors a day (3 or 4 flights each way each with 18/19 seats), ACI/GCI similar. In winter far less, averaging 2 flights a day on each route?

The challenges of these routes must not be understated. On 26 Nov I was flying to SOU and over limit crosswinds delayed the inbound aircraft on the morning flight back to ACI from GCI; most pax were coming over to work on Alderney for the day (e.g. a health visitor); by the time the winds had abated, people had abandoned their trips and the booked load of 12 was down to just 2. As you say, it is a huge ask for whoever is operating ACI routes - and ACI and GCI have far more of a nexus than ACI/JER.

[Hermite]

Just spotted this delay in the start of services being reported: https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/84954-air-alderney-to-face-service-start-delay. I wonder if they will ever get there.

I also noticed that they have 2 web addresses - airalderney.gg and airalderney.org. The one that indicates services are about to start isn't the one painted on the side of their a/c, which seems rather odd.

[welkyboy]

As far as I know Air Alderney don’t have any aircraft. The one painted in their colours was returned to Cumbernaild some time ago.

[kcockayne]

That’s not the only “odd” thing about Air Alderney. Another is the report in the J.E.P. to the effect that the Alderney to Jersey route would be starting 3 months or so late. The reason, apparently, being that they hadn’t realized that their licence for the route had expired. It will take a couple of months to get a new one approved. I may have got this wrong; but haven’t the States of Guernsey abolished the need for a licence - except for the Guernsey to Gatwick Route ? As I said previously, I will be surprised if Air Alderney ever get round to operating a scheduled service to anywhere.

[toscana24]

Local media on Alderney confirm that Air Alderney needs to reapply to the States of Alderney for the route licences (they were issued before for 2 years and that period has expired).

Although Alderney is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey different rules and laws apply here in many areas. The States of Alderney (the local Council equivalent) are pretty independent on many areas and air route licensing is one of them. But expect slow decisions.

All on the Island hope that they get airborne soon but fear that will never happen. The current Aurigny management have cut the ACI/SOU route to just two flights a day even in the 2020 mid summer holiday peak (four a day in 2019). That will decimate summer tourism visitor numbers. Lots of background to that including the route tendering / PSO processes taking forever (reinforcing the point on slow, or no, decision making).

[kcockayne]

Thank you for clarifying the licensing issue, toscana. Looking on as an interested observer, it seems that Air Alderney is a “pie in the sky” project - how long has it been since the project was first mooted ? It often seems to be grown men playing at childrens’ games - ooh, let’s start an airline; we could have helicopters , too ! We’ll operate to here, there & everywhere ( In Alderney terms). And then, the reality takes over, & nothing ever happens. All sorts of excuses are banded around as justification. Judging from your well grounded & relevant comments, it would certainly seem that Alderney needs a reliable air carrier; but what is the likelihood of the island ever getting it ? AUR seem to have forgotten the very reason why they were founded, & appear to favour a withdrawal from the island. A new operator might well be the answer ; & Air Alderney could be it. But, they need to put their money where their mouth is & get on with it. More than that, they need to be able to obtain the vast majority of potential passengers to have a chance of making it pay - effectively a monopoly - bearing in mind the very small population of the island. This could be on the cards, considering AUR’s , apparent, unwillingness to provide a desirable & robust air service in the face of its continuing losses on the routes. Perhaps it is time that all concerned held a comprehensive review of what is necessary & what CAN be achieved ; & then set out, with purpose, to bring it to fruition. However, whatever is the future for Alderney air services, I fear that it can never be achieved without subsidies from the States of Guernsey !

[Diverskii]

This morning, G-BLNI flew over my garden on its way from Biggin to Tatenhill.

Air Alderney posted a video on their FB page in August showing the arrival from Cyprus of 5B-CHD, another piston Islander. Looks to be a former parachuting a/c.

So it looks like they've now got at least two piston Islanders. Anyone know what happened to the Turbine islander G-BJED that they had?

[Hot 'n' High]

Just looked up the latest with AA to see what is what. You have to hand it to those behind this, they do seem to be making some headway with this and have stuck with it over the years. "Small Island" politics and the impact that has on "rapid progress" is legendary the world over!!

And Cyprus to Biggin? In an Islander? Strewth! It will be years before David and Mike will be able to hear again!!! :eek:

I'm not even going to go into the "why's and wherefore's" and "will it/won't it" work but, particularly at this time of gloom, well, they deserve a break and, tbh, sounds like the islanders (people not aircraft!!) could do with it too. I really enjoyed my time out there many years ago - wish it had never ended looking back. :{

So, to all those involved, good luck! :ok:

[kcockayne]

“What is what” ? Answer is - nothing. At the start of the year Air Alderney announced a two month delay in their Jersey service (because they had forgotten to renew their licence for the route - to the best of my knowledge, they didn’t need one). Move on eight months & the service is yet to start. OK, Covid is a plausible excuse, but will it ever start ? I don’t think so. As a starting point, Jersey is the most likely sustainable route they could get, but the airline’s chances of survival in the longer term rely on getting Guernsey & Southampton. If they can’t get onto either, or both, of these routes they will not survive; or even start. Unless AUR pull out of Alderney, forget about Air Alderney.

[Hot 'n' High]

“What is what” ? Answer is - nothing. ....... Unless AUR pull out of Alderney, forget about Air Alderney.

You may well be right but, personally, I hope they do make a go of it! I had great fun and I hope others can enjoy it likewise. And it will add to Island life - take the flack off the chickens if they are still there if nothing else! Ah well! Showing me age now! :ok:

[kcockayne]

Well, I could be wrong, also. Nothing personal in my comments, h & h, it’s just after so many years of waiting, nothing ever seems to have happened - even when they seemed on the verge of starting the Jersey service. For an airline of this size & limited opportunities , it is essential that they get a money making route under their belt. That means Guernsey, as a minimum; &, if they get it, they will probably need a monopoly on it. Glad that you had such a good time in our locality !

[Hot 'n' High]

Well, I could be wrong, also. Nothing personal in my comments, h & h, it’s just after so many years of waiting, nothing ever seems to have happened - even when they seemed on the verge of starting the Jersey service. ......

Thanks KC! Sadly, for all parties, you stand a better chance of a correct prediction than I. :suspect: Just would be nice to have some good news for a change! And it was some of the crazy Islanders (the people) that made it such fun! :ok: A great crowd! Liver almost recovered all these years on!!!!!