Guernsey

[v812]

In the mid 60's Guernsey was a very popular destination for UK holiday makers as this was before package holidays took off. During the Summer the island was serviced by a number of airlines from various destinations.
How things have changed with only 2 airlines now offering regular sevices.
In those we days we had the following airlines and destinations:
Aurigny - JER-ACI and Granville
BEA - JER-LHR-LGW-BHX-MAN-GLA
BKS - LBA
BMA - EMA(CDD) then-LTN and STV (Gloucester Staverton)
BUA - JER-SOU-LGW-EXT and Cherbourg (Car ferry)
Cambrian - CWL-BRS-LPL
Channel - SEN -BOH -STN (ZSD) then and PME (Portsmouth)
Rousseau- DND and St Brieuc

[jensdad]

Hi v812, is the DND the old code for Dinard, or Dundee as it currently is? Not being a smart-arse - I know there are some on here who like to point out mistakes in codes - just wondering if Dundee had service to Guernsey. As you say Guernsey was a very popular holiday destination back in the day (and still one of my personal favourites now :) )

[kcockayne]

Don’t forget Morton Air Services from Gatwick with Doves & Herons. Guernsey has never had a service from Dundee. We also had an infrequent service, from Birmingham, I think, operated by Don Everall with DC3s. Channel also operated, at least occasionally, from Rochester & Ipswich.

[EI-BUD]

I have a memory of a short lived Dublin route on Manx Airlines in the early 1990s, do I have that right? I recall a Saturday flight one Shorts 360.
Hope to visit one day, been to Jersey a few times but not Guernsey.

[Alteagod]

Air UK used to operate a summer service from. BFS in the 90s

[kcockayne]

Aer Lingus did operate from Dublin for one or two seasons. I think it was in the late 80s, but memory fails me somewhat. They used the SH360 &, possibly, the FK50.

[BACsuperVC10]

Hi v812, is the DND the old code for Dinard, or Dundee as it currently is? Not being a smart-arse - I know there are some on here who like to point out mistakes in codes - just wondering if Dundee had service to Guernsey. As you say Guernsey was a very popular holiday destination back in the day (and still one of my personal favourites now :) )

Here Here...lovely island

[BACsuperVC10]

In the mid 60's Guernsey was a very popular destination for UK holiday makers as this was before package holidays took off. During the Summer the island was serviced by a number of airlines from various destinations.
How things have changed with only 2 airlines now offering regular sevices.
In those we days we had the following airlines and destinations:
Aurigny - JER-ACI and Granville
BEA - JER-LHR-LGW-BHX-MAN-GLA
BKS - LBA
BMA - EMA(CDD) then-LTN and STV (Gloucester Staverton)
BUA - JER-SOU-LGW-EXT and Cherbourg (Car ferry)
Cambrian - CWL-BRS-LPL
Channel - SEN -BOH -STN (ZSD) then and PME (Portsmouth)
Rousseau- DND and St Brieuc

I used Blue Islands new servcice from GCI to LPL last year, was great, hope it returns some day soon. Going back a bit Air Corbiere did the route stopping at Coventry or Staverton en route.

[BACsuperVC10]

Air UK used to operate a summer service from. BFS in the 90s

They did a Stansted service too

[nickp]

At weekends Mortons took the newspapers in and came back with flowers in DC3s.

[v812]

Yes should have been DNR for Dinard.
I remember Transair doing the newspapers with DC-3 and Viscount. First aircraft I ever went on to help offload newspapers as my dad was a newsagent.
Also remember regular BEA Argosy bringing in equipment for Tektronix

[jensdad]

Yes should have been DNR for Dinard.


Thanks v812, I had a suspicion it was although if Staverton had a service then Dundee was a possibility! I know that Aurigny only relatively recently ceased their Guernsey-Dinard service, which was a long-running route.

[Gurnard]

Don't forget that Aurigny re-connected Guernsey with Cherbourg after the BUAF Bristol Freighter service ended. Also it might be worth including Haywards Aviation with regular flights to Shoreham using PA27s around 1970. When there were more passengers a Dove was used, later an Islander.

[Jerbourg]

They did a Stansted service too


The also did CWL, LBA, NWI, & I remember the 146 departing GCI on summer Saturdays to ZRH.
KLM uk did AMS


I recall that for a veryshort period Air UK's Channel Island flights were branded Air UK Channelhopper

[Persimmon]

EI-BUD, yes, your memory is good. Manx operated a Guernsey-Dublin-Guernsey Saturday service in their Summer 1994 timetable from 18 June to 17 September. The timetable indicates that the scheduled aircraft was a J41.

[kcockayne]

My previous post seems to have disappeared, so I’ll try again. I am pretty certain that the a/c used was a SH36, with possibly a FK50 (although this may have been Cork to Jersey). I never saw a Jetstream on the route . I have photos of some Sheds in EIN c/s. My memory is of the service lasting for two seasons, but would happily concede that it might have only been one.

[kcockayne]

Going back to Rousseau from Dinard; the early services (in the 60s) we’re operated by Dragon Rapide & Jodel D140. Surely one of the last Rapide services anywhere ?

[Jamesair1]

Was there not an airline called Guernsey Airlines? which amongst other places flew to NCL

[rog747]

Was there not an airline called Guernsey Airlines? which amongst other places flew to NCL

Yes indeed that was bought out by ILG Air Europe - eventually to become Air Europe express - In turn became CityFlyer after AE's demise

[Persimmon]

Just had a quick rummage through my box of old timetables and found Aer Lingus, Summer 1986. Dublin to Guernsey Sundays from 1 June to 30 September. No aircraft listed but "Commuter Service" shown in italics. The Aer Lingus F50s didn't enter service until early 1989 so no doubt operated by S360. Flight time shown as 1 hr 55 mins!! No sign of this service in any other year around that time.

[Bern Oulli]

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1074x722/jb029_a81ab5e03215c13ce9070c33387b0e849e70697c.jpg
Following on with a rummage through some old slides - BEA (remember them?) Argosy on the apron pre-new tower, ILS, and lots of other "improvements". Taken from the old tower, aka the top floor of the terminal building.

[v812]

Went on a couple of flights on Britannia B737-200 into Guerney when transporting school children on ski trips. On 1 occasion went flight deck LTN-MUC-GCI-MUC-LGW.
Great day out ,had 2 .30 on ground in Guernsey for crew change who arrived on G-BRIT light aircraft. As a result was able to go home and see my parents for Sunday lunch.
We were empty back to MUC but on take off just as we rotated we hit a sea gull just below flight deck window, almighty bang.fortunately all ok except for a very red mess on the fuselage when we inspected it at MUC.

[Jerbourg]

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1299/g_bgyj_e70005452e785a9ca792cef9977c6ae28319b2bc.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1170/g_bgyl_g_bgyj__cab0a9537b243e9a76945cf3babe2697e76ebd6e.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1479x912/g_bjxj_1242d1b09fa52334e8b6ce81a979745ea43a675d.jpg
V812, I found these pics on the Guernsey Airport of Yesteryear F/book group, maybe you were on one of these machines..?

[Jerbourg]

Was there not an airline called Guernsey Airlines? which amongst other places flew to NCL

Alidair were the initial owners of Guernsey Airlines, they then sold the company to British Air Ferries, who passed it on to Aurigny Air Services, who in turn sold it to ILG/Air Europe, it was merged into Air Europe Express after a short time & that was that.

[v812]

Thanks Jerbourg. I was on G-BHWF 06 Apr 1986

[Ayline]

Aer Lingus operated one season on the Dublin - Guernsey - Dublin route. All flights were operated by Shorts 360s with the callsign EIN462/463.

[bmaviscount]

I remember in the 70s a large number of viscounts and Heralds ; What a great noise they made
BMA could have 3 or four viscounts parked up on a saturday , EMA, BHX LTN and SEN
BIA had heralds from Exeter , Southampton and Gatwick
British Airways viscounts to LHR and MAN
Dan Air HS748s to Bournemouth, Leeds, Bristol
Intra Airways ; DC3 to Gloucester and Cambridge
Aurigny ; Trislander and Islander only to AUR, JER Dinard and Cherbourg

[Jerbourg]

bmaviscount - You might like this image that I also 'nicked' from the above mentioned Facebook group

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/700x2000/hph5_aa556c7b54df549ef594b27cec0eb9860bd29569.jpg

[v812]

Remember working one Summer Sunday in Guernsey for Channel Airways normally Guernsey always fogged out before Jersey. On this occasion Guernsey was ok and Jersey fogged.
In the space of 20 minutes we have 4 Channel viscounts divert in from Jersey. After awhile the Station Manager convinced Ops that Jersey wouldn't open so we would take 1 of the Viscounts and clear all our passengers routing it Gci-Boh-Stn-Sen. We then put approx 300 passengers down to the harbour to get the 1800 ferry to Jersey. At about 1830 3 Viscounts ferried empty to Jersey as their weather had now cleared !!! Oh happy days.

[bmaviscount]

Wow transported back to my childhood ; rare for so much BAF!

[tenright]

Around that time there was also JF Airlines to/from Shoreham with their splendid Twin Pioneers !

[BACsuperVC10]

I remember as a young travel agent in the 80s booking some passengers from Shoreham to Jersey on a Jersey European Twin Otter, they would have normally gone from Gatwick but had left it to the last minute so everything booked up, but the Shoreham route had some seats left and got them to the C I for the weekend.

[bricquebec]

At about that time, I booked the family to Alderney. Shoreham was full, so booked from SOU. A month before travel, the Grand Hotel on Alderney burned down, so I left it for a couple of weeks and phoned to see if there were any cancellations from Shoreham. No joy, but the lady confirmed that it was an islander on the route. I asked if they could put on a Trislander. One minute, she said, and came back saying that was possible, and changed us. I felt as important as the chairman of BA.

[BACsuperVC10]

How good is that !

[bmaviscount]

I flew that twin otter route from Shoreham it used to touch down in Alderney on route

(JE even flew a twin otter from Stansted at one point)

Air Sarnia tried the hop via Alderney later with a connection from Bournemouth using trislanders

[Jerbourg]

I seem to remember Aurigny operating GCI-CFR for a short time.

[kcockayne]

AUR certainly tried Jersey to Caen for a short while, but I don't remember them operating from Guernsey. But, I could be wrong.

[Aero Mad]

There is already a live Guernsey thread on AAR - I imagine mods need to merge or close it.

https://www.pprune.org/airlines-airports-routes/244236-guernsey-21.html

At the risk of straying further into the realms of aviation history, to my knowledge Aurigny never operated GCI - CFR; only from JER. Here's another thread on historic Aurigny routes https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/604537-aurigny-routes.html

[Jerbourg]

kcockayne

Ah, maybe that's what I was thinking about. (The depths of my mind are are bit 'fuddled' these days) :)

[kcockayne]

Same for a lot of us, Jerbourg ! Your contributions are always valued, though.

[bricquebec]

The Jersey-Caen route coincided with the States of Jersey opening a tourist office in the centre of Caen. Neither lasted long.

[bmaviscount]

For some up to date news I hear Guernsey has suspended its air bridge with Isle of Man as they have 7 new cases of Covid 19

The island must be going stir crazy !

[Wycombe]

Must've just happened as 2 flights to IOM are still showing on airport website for tomorrow (Sat)

In other news I see that AUR have been to LGW today (who ever thought 7 months ago that that would be news!)

[kcockayne]

I think that it was the Isle of Man that suspended the link, due to a surge in Guernsey Covid cases.

[Richard Le page]

Wycombe

The 2 flights operating Sat are repatriation flights for IOM residents on holiday here in Guernsey and for Guernsey holidaymakers in IOM.
All the half term flights have been Cancelled due to rising Covid cases in Guernsey.
I'm sure that the returning IOM residents will have to do an unexpected 14 days self isolation on there return. The returning Guernsey residents wont.

[davidjohnson6]

I've been reading of a plan for Guernsey to substantially open up without quarantine or testing on 1st July 2021 but have no idea if this is just the fantasy of some hoteliers
https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/guernsey-aims-for-unrestricted-summer-travel

Does GCI really expect air travel to open up to flights to/from airports like Gatwick on this date, with little or no barriers in the form of quarantine, testing, vaccine passports or other paperwork ? If so, why is there very little noise amongst airlines (eg Eastern or Loganair or maybe even BACF) opening new routes for S21, compared to Gibraltar or Newquay ? The runway is short but it's still capable of sub-100 seat aircraft without a major performance penalty

[kcockayne]

There is a political intention , as expressed by the Chief Minister yesterday, to open up the borders by July, but I don’t know how that is going to be achieved. In fact, I don’t know if he quite knows what the details of this policy will be, yet.

[Aero Mad]

davidjohnson6 and kcockayne, the Civil Contingencies Authority of the States has announced that it will re-introduce country and regional travel categories from 23 April https://www.gov.gg/reintroducecategories

Reading between the lines it is likely that for the moment most or all of the UK will fall into Category 2, reintroduced on 14 May:

It is the CCA's current intention that from the 14th May, 'Category 2' destinations will then be introduced. Broadly, category 2 will apply to destinations with a prevalence of below 30 cases per 100,000, which also satisfied other Public Health criteria. Category 2 travellers will be tested twice, on arrival and on day 7, but they will only need to self-isolate until their first result comes back negative. They can then leave their self-isolation and observe 'passive follow-up' rules until 14 days after their arrival.

So most travellers from the UK will likely have to self-isolate for 18-36hrs (depending on the time it takes to get the PCR result back), paying £25 for each test. Hardly an entirely straight-forward exercise but equally probably less onerous than much of the world, so we can expect a reasonable up-tick - and presumably as airlines hear of the new rules, some confirmed dates for summer '21 ops.

[KindaUnstuck]

Based on the way Aurigny is scaling back flights for August I don't think it's going to make much difference anyway... August was originally down for 4 daily LGW rotations but some days they have scaled back down to 1 while other days are showing as up to 4 still and there have been cuts to the planned SOU and MAN schedules.

Don't know if they are slowly working their way through reducing the schedule due to lack of demand or if this is to facilitate any air bridge flights as the suggestion is the first GCI - IOM flights will be 27 and 31 May.

[guern123]

Interesting people thinking about IOM airbridge. They did it last year based on the fact both islands had the same border restrictions IE everyone was isolating for 14days on arrival. IOM only just today come out of lockdown and from May 14th Guernsey plan to allow to let people arrive from regions with less than 30 cases per 100,000 (which most of the uk currently is) arrive test on arrival and then once negative roam free with no restrictions. Not sure IOM will go with that.

[KindaUnstuck]

Having had a look at the timetable in a bit more detail it would suggest the Gatwick flights have been pulled / reduced mainly around times when the Embraer is probably on Aston Martin F1 duties. However there are also large holes in the ATR schedules at times.

As for the AirBridge, the IOM was happy for it to operate when we went down to 7 day isolation over the summer last year. The landing paperwork you had to fill in for arrival had a section that you had to sign to confirm that you had not been outside the IOM or Bailiwick of Guernsey in the previous 14 days - If the case numbers get too high in Guernsey the IOM will probably pull it with immediate effect and send the Guernsey people home again I should imagine.

[Jerbourg]

As will Guernsey with the IOM pax if cases rise there

[pabely]

Chief Minister in IOM has publicly stated he wants to see the Air Bridge back soon.

[VickersVicount]

How do we think the new BACF LCY and EDI routes will fair? Bandwagon for staycations this year only or to become annual seasonal regulars?

[Jerbourg]

If BA advertise this well it will be a winner with islanders heading north - the BA name carries alot of sway compared to Blue Islands & Aurigny (forget that they have pulled the plug on GCI a few times).

[guern123]

VickersVicount

Hard to do staycations to Guernsey when you still need to isolate on Arrival

[davidjohnson6]

I thought the plan is for Guernsey to be largely open door to the UK from 1st July 2021 ?

[Jerbourg]

guern123

Isolation should be gone in July

[kar42]

From Friday some areas of the UK will be classified as Green which will mean test on arrival and isolate until clear test result. See Press release Travel to Guernsey from 14 May 2021 (https://covid19.gov.gg/sites/default/files/2021-05/Media%20release%20-%207%20May%202021%20-%20Introduction%20of%20Category%202%20countries%20and%20regi ons%20on%2014%20May%202021.pdf)

[tictack67]

VickersVicount

Calm down it's a seasonal twice a week route on an aircraft with 95 seats.

You'd think BA were launching a 3 daily Edinburgh to LAX service

I'm sure BA yield management and route development have a better idea than us airline SIM players.

​​​​​​People quick to drag down local airports. Seem to remember people giving Qatar and Turkish 6 months.

Lufthansa been serving Edinburgh for 18 years

[bmaviscount]

Good news for GCI if they open up this summer

Always thought an EDI route would make sense; surprised Aurigny haven’t tried it

LCY great for weekenders

I wonder if BA could keep the LCY part going all year

[ICEHOUSES]

I’ll give the BA route six months if that, Aurigny tried it and it didn’t work for them and if BA can move the aircraft onto a more profitable route then they will. Problem with Guernsey is there isn’t a great tourism industry unlike Jersey, many hotels have closed up or are up for sale with little investment over the years. With all eggs in one basket with regards to the finance industry and not much else, some of the locals forget only sixty odd thousand live on the island, the size of a small town in the U.K., which is probably not enough to support a variety of routes, I could be proved wrong though.

[772]

Only time will tell, as others have eluded to, I think these ‘new’ routes we are seeing from BA will be short term, as Sean Doyle said recently BA will adapt and fly to where they can and where people want to go, they have a very limited number of destinations that are worth flying to in the coming weeks and months, they have spare aircraft and crew and will deploy their aircraft wherever they can for now, this I would suspect will change as other countries open up.

I supposed LCY wise, as it was mainly focused on business travel if that does take some time to return then maybe any new LCY routes may last a bit longer

[tictack67]

Totally agree 772
"Sean Doyle said recently BA will adapt and fly to where they can and where people want to go"

BA wisely living to Ryanair model of starting and cancelling new routes when required. I just get annoyed at armchair analysts trying to justify a BA new route yet Ryanair almost daily chop and change.

Gone are the days where people.nkw would book next year's holiday.

It's going to be all last minute and short notice sun holidays from now on

[Jerbourg]

Does anyone know how the pax loads have been on the BA LCY & EDI routes?

[KindaUnstuck]

​​​​​From what I was told the other week LCY was doing better than EDI

The airport stats released by VisitGuernsey unfortunately includes Edinburgh under 'other' but LCY had 477 arrivals for July which works out at an average of 53 passengers.

When I flew GCI - LCY and LCY - GCI the other week there was about 80-odd passengers on the Friday outbound, maybe 60-odd on the Monday return.

[kcockayne]

All of your figures for LCY are quite good & better than I would have thought. I hope that both places are worth the airline continuing with next year ; & LCY over the winter - though it really needs a daily service, the demand for which is probably not there.

[KindaUnstuck]

As much as LCY is more convenient for me than LGW, the day I came back from LCY there was only one LGW service which was the evening GR610/ GR611.

I wonder how the LCY would do when up against a 4 times daily LGW unfortunately, as local people have a habit of sticking to the Gatwick service - know of quite a few who used Gatwick and then bus/ taxied up to LHR when we had the Flybe service a few years back as that is what they had always done.

[kcockayne]

As you say, the demand for a LCY service - when in competition with a frequent LGW service - just isn’t there. If LCY is ever going to be a self sustaining service, it does, however, need to be daily (probably twice daily); but the loads just aren’t there. To some extent, as you state, Guerns tend to stick with what they know ie LGW. This is strengthened by the extra number of connecting destinations from there, but there are also connections from LCY. Unfortunately too few to attract many punters; &, of course, non-existent to long haul destinations.
Which is why I wish BAW & LCY well, but don’t expect them to be a permanent presence in Guernsey; other than seasonal. Hope I’m wrong.

[Jerbourg]

I always thought that the market would have been better ifor Aurigny if they had offered an early departure from LCY to GCI, CityFlyer Express used to do an 0730 departure from LGW to GCI which was always very well supported & gave the London business person a full day on the island as I think they also operated a 1900 departure back to LGW. City could work with the right timings & frequency - 3 times weekly/twice daily would do it I think.

[bmaviscount]

Interestingly I have done the BA LCY flight one return and one single: Was a real
pleasure and flew in Club Europe
On my last return I took Aurigny and was shocked to see the crew in full PPE and no service offered
Then arrival in Gatwick north and then Thameslink back to London was not a present experience

I must admit I found Aurigny had changed pre pandemic and is not really the airline it once was. I am sure they are being further constrained by the Guernsey Health department but I think competition to the Island is healthy.

I liked the Flybe brief appearance on the LHR route

[KindaUnstuck]

Looks like we will have some European flights for 2022 (can't find anythng for Germany yet):

CI Travel Group have announced weekly (Sunday) charter flights to Majorca between end of May - Mid September using BA CityFlyer Embraer 190s next summer.

I've had a quick look online and Sunair who are involved with the Dutch Charters have Groningen down as operating from end of April - Mid-August 2022 and Rotterdam end of April - early September both with Blue Islands.

Blue Islands are also down for the Zurich charter based on what I can find - (with the UK network now also are they going to need more aircraft?)

The Alsie Express charter from Sonderborg that was planned pre-Covid looks to be down as operating 26 - 29 May also.

[ChocksAwayChaps]

I wonder if anyone has any info on why Aurigny are not flying from GCI to EMA beyond end of October? Is this likely to change? I see they are flying to BHX but not EMA.

[KindaUnstuck]

Haven't looked too in depth but looks like it's a combination of a few things including this being the first winter for Aurigny operating to Birmingham and Exeter and an increase in service to Gatwick and Southampton:

- the reintroduction of the ATR flights to Gatwick
- Southampton increasing to 3 daily flights on Aurigny metal (compared to 1 at the moment)
- Birmingham looks to be increased to daily (double daily on Thursdays to allow for a day return).
- Exeter operating Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (Tuesday is double daily to allow for a day return).
- (Bristol reducing to 4 weekly during winter)
- (Manchester reducing to 11 weekly)

Presumably East Midlands moves to being seasonal alongside Leeds and Norwich (could be a busy summer 2022 if Stansted also returns alongside the new Dublin route).

[KindaUnstuck]

New Aurigny route for Summer 2022.

The Embraer will be pulled off the Gatwick route to operate to Malaga every Wednesday from 13 July - 7 September

GR001 Dep GCI: 10:20, Arr: AGP: 14:05
GR002 Dep AGP: 14:50, Arr: GCI: 16:35

News this morning also reporting that an announcement of interline agreements with various airlines should be on its way at some point.

[GCILover]

Whilst this is great news, the Barcelona was weight restricted. This one will be even more so. Why do Aurigny go over the top with their flight times? Even allowing for taxiing they're excessive. This has been given the same flight length as a SOU-AGP. Is it done to make OTP better?

[kcockayne]

Can't think of any other reason ; but would be interested in any other suggestions. These sort of initiatives from AUR are welcome. As is the announcement that the airline & politicians are seeking ways to make AUR profitable . Can't see it happening, though !

[KindaUnstuck]

GCILover

Probably more than likely. Some of the LGW - GCI flights have been given 90 minute block times (which is 25 minutes more than BA had scheduled for their GCI - LCY flights) yet I've seen the 13.20 landing as early as 12.35 , the 17.35 landing 30 minutes early fairly often and the 20.55 is quite often landed before the 20.30 Southampton.

The other week my brother was home with a cup of coffee before the scheduled arrival time of his Gatwick flight

[Wycombe]

Will be a bit quicker than the Blue Islands ATR that went there today! (3hrs 8min flying according to FR24)

[TRENT210]

IOS Skybus are contracted to cover the D228 flights this winter whilst they’re in for maintenance.

[virginblue]

Mabye they build the schedule around the ATR72 performance so they can substitute the jet with a turboprop without messing up OTP.

[KindaUnstuck]

Great to see BA CityFlyer back on Monday and Fridays 20 June - early September on the LCY - GCI route.

The aircraft comes in from London City and goes back 40 minutes later.

The local radio station, IslandFM has stated that EDI will also be back but not seen it mentioned anywhere else and no sign in the booking engine so not sure if they have had that confirmed or if someone went on the BA site and tried to do a booking not noticing that it required an aircraft change at City.

[Jerbourg]

After a successful first season operating GCI-PMI, Jersey based travel company FlyDirect have put flights/holidays on sale for the 2023 summer season.
All flights will once again be operated weekly on Sundays by BA CityFlyer with Embraer 190's.
Let's hope this to more destinations in years to come.


Does anyone know how BA did with the scheduled LCY-GCI & EDI-GCI routes this summer?

[Nuweiba]

Looking at the CAA stats, it would appear LCY averaged 55 pax per flight in July and 67 in August. Not too bad, especially August. However EDI fared not so good. LCY has the advantage that one can connect onwards to many European destinations with BA, something that Aurigny couldn't do as they have no agreements in place.

Any news on the GR-BA tie-up that was announced months ago by Nico bit which never seems to have materialised ?

[Jerbourg]

I believe the GR-BA agreement is only interline & not a codeshare which I think is an opportunity missed for GR.
It expect it will kick off when GR have their new (interline friendy) res system installed - this is due in the next few months apparently.

[KindaUnstuck]

Looking at the CAA stats, it would appear LCY averaged 55 pax per flight in July and 67 in August. Not too bad, especially August. However EDI fared not so good.

Don't forget GCI - EDI was Saturdays only this year rather than Monday & Friday like in 2021 so that gives an average load of around 72 passengers per flight for August.

I wonder if Aurigny may take EDI on next summer if BA don't considering they are operating flights over Christmas and New Year, and EDI also appears in the vote for their 22/23 Winter Weekend Breaks also.

Separately, it looks like Stansted may be returning - Aurigny have slots in the latest ACL report for 3/4 weekly flights from February 2023.

During Winter 2022 Aurigny are combining the Exeter and Bristol flights into a triangular route on some days which makes sense if it means both can be a little more regular than if they were separate.

[Jerbourg]

I think GR have enough routes ex GCI.
The island needs other carriers to offer other routes

[KindaUnstuck]

Does anyone know why we have a former Flybe Embraer 175 sat up the airport the past few days?

Noticed it sitting on the Western Apron the other night on the AurignyCam.

[Gurnard]

It's the former G-FBJD positioning through from Alverca (Portugal) to Maastricht for painting and onward delivery as yet unknown.

[KindaUnstuck]

It's the former G-FBJD positioning through from Alverca (Portugal) to Maastricht for painting and onward delivery as yet unknown.

Thanks Gurnard, presume she is being removed from the 2-REG on her way through, at first I thought the cam had broken and was showing old footage!

[Nuweiba]

Oh yes ! That brings back memories, eh ! Or maybe it will be used by Aurigny to do fly pasts at Alderney to see the suitability of extending the runway there even further !! :)

[BACsuperVC10]

I think GR have enough routes ex GCI.
The island needs other carriers to offer other routes

Blue Islands offered LPL-GCI before the pandemic which was handy, not running now. So its Easyjet LPL-JER, then a hop. Would be nice to see it back for summer 23.

[KindaUnstuck]

Oh yes ! That brings back memories, eh ! Or maybe it will be used by Aurigny to do fly pasts at Alderney to see the suitability of extending the runway there even further !! :)

My other theory before Gurnard gave the answer was if it was the aircraft Blue Islands were going to need for their Jersey - Canary Island flights if they happen:O

[kcockayne]

Good guess - I like your thought process. Very logical but, I doubt that it would be what Blue Island really need to ensure their survival. Although, Canary flights would need a jet with the appropriate range. However, where would they use it the rest of the time ?

[KindaUnstuck]

Not seen it announced anywhere yet but just noticed on the BA website that GCI - LCY and GCI - EDI are both bookable for summer 2023 with BA CityFlyer.

Similar dates/ same frequencies as 2022.

[Jerbourg]

Rumour has it that West Atlantic/Swift Air are pulling the Mon-Fri general cargo ATR operated flight 'NPT423/424' which operates EMA-JER-GCI-EMA with effect 23 December.
The DHL & Post Office flights will continue.

[KindaUnstuck]

As previously stated by Sean M on twitter, BA CityFlyer have removed GCI - LCY and GCI - EDI from sale for 2023 over the past week or so.

[Jerbourg]

It's the time of the year when rumours for the summer season used to start bubbling up, I don't hold out much hope for any new carriers on European flights but you may know something different..?

[KindaUnstuck]

Looks like all those extra slots Aurigny applied for have come to nothing - presumably a lot of that was based on the Embraer leaving and them needing to fill in gaps if 2 ATRs had come in to replace it. (Not heard anything regarding the future of the Embraer).

With BA dropping EDI and LCY (but Aurigny increasing Ibiza) we are effectively down 1 route compared to last year.

Suspect the only changes will be based around additional flights/ charters for the Island Games.

[LTNman]

Guernsey airport runway extension faces delay https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-66096424

[Nuweiba]

Guernsey airport runway extension faces delay https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-66096424

The BBC Report is rather misleading. The consensus of opinion is that an increase in passenger numbers could ( as in might ) be achieved as long as airport charges are slashed. But one does not need a runway extension to do that !

Publication of the Runway Extension Study policy letter - States of Guernsey (gov.gg) (https://gov.gg/article/196933/Publication-of-the-Runway-Extension-Study-policy-letter)

[kcockayne]

It all revolves around an increase in passenger numbers. Because, without that Guernsey is highly unlikely to get EZY, RYR or any other low cost carrier in. Does extending the runway magically mean that such operators will be interested ? Not in my opinion. With a population of 65,000 the scope for a meaningful & profitable low cost operation just does not stack up. Guernsey wants low cost, frequent & more extensive routes. It isn’t going to get any of these, runway extension or no runway extension, unless it can make itself attractive to LCCs. That means a sizable increase in demand. That isn’t going to happen unless the population suddenly increases to somewhere near Jersey’ level, or the existing population suddenly becomes far more affluent. If it were to happen, the impact on the publicly owned Aurigny would be catastrophic - just as it celebrates its first small profit in several years ! You can’t have what they want without the demand.

[v812]

The other issue is that there is no longer the hotel accommodation to take a large increase in passenger numbers. Alot of the old hotels have now been turned into domestic housing

[kcockayne]

Very true. I had discounted any tourism led extra demand, without saying so. Guernsey has to accept the probability that it’s market is not large enough to justify the desired increased frequency & extra destinations that are so attractive; or lose Aurigny. Extra runway length, in my opinion, is a red herring.

[virginblue]

If I am not mistaken, the number of travellers visiting Guernsey for leisure purposes almost halved between 1997 (approx. 270k) and 2019 (136k) - and since then, it has decreased further quite dramactically. Even if business travel has increased over the past 25 years (?), it is pretty obvious that there is no need for more airline capacity. Given its size, Guernsey can consider it lucky to have all those links offered by Aurigny these days.

[kcockayne]

Well, this is precisely what I have been telling them for quite a while. However, the “extend the runway” faction are convinced that an extra 600 feet of tarmac is going to solve all their problems ! They are not alone; a similar group in Alderney (pop 1800) expect an extended runway to miraculously provide extra links, increased frequency & cheaper fares ! Some people do not seem to make their judgements on factual evidence. By all means build the runway, which will result in the odd larger aircraft charter flight; or, 1or 2 EZY schedules per day to Gatwick; & lose AUR in the process. Then, The States will have no certainty of control on the Gatwick slots (which was the rationale for purchasing AUR in the first place). The island has no money to do anything, basically, but it is expected that £20m+ will be available for the extension. Which world does this group live in ?

[Albert Hall]

Surprised no-one has mentioned the surge in activity for the Island Games. The Aurigny 195 has flown in teams from Gibraltar (over Malaga) and Shetland (over Aberdeen) already, and it’s off to Visby tomorrow morning. Visits into Guernsey from Atlantic Airways from Vagar and Air Malta, Loganair from Aberdeen with the Orkney contingent and Blue Islands from Stornoway with the Western Isles squad. It’s quite some airlift and probably heading for a record July at GCI by the time it’s all done.

[Asturias56]

"The island has no money to do anything, basically, "

Hmm - all those financial types and bankers could perhaps pay a bit more tax???

[inOban]

If they were asked to pay more tax they would relocate their business to a location with 'a more competitive tax regime'.

[kcockayne]

Thanks, Asturias & Oban - the local political argument & dilemma in a nutshell ! We are stuck with them & we can’t get shot of them !

[KindaUnstuck]

Don't know of loadings and presume the time of day/ winds also helped but both the Atlantic Airways A320-214 and Air Malta A320NEO operated direct when they took teams home from the Island Games.

According to the ITV local news, the States of Guernsey are in negotiations with an unamed airline about operating a direct link to Paris (I presume it is Aurigny as they were known to be looking at the possibilities of opening a Paris route last year).

[Jerbourg]

Don't know of loadings and presume the time of day/ winds also helped but both the Atlantic Airways A320-214 and Air Malta A320NEO operated direct when they took teams home from the Island Games.

.

According to the ITV local news, the States of Guernsey are in negotiations with an unamed airline about operating a direct link to Paris (I presume it is Aurigny as they were known to be looking at the possibilities of opening a Paris route last year).


1. Approx 165 for Atlantic Airways & 60 for Air Malta I believe


2. Lets hope for a new operator who can provide onward connections on a through booking - I just hope it's not Aurigny or Eastern Airways!

[Jersey32D]

Don't know of loadings and presume the time of day/ winds also helped but both the Atlantic Airways A320-214 and Air Malta A320NEO operated direct when they took teams home from the Island Games.

According to the ITV local news, the States of Guernsey are in negotiations with an unamed airline about operating a direct link to Paris (I presume it is Aurigny as they were known to be looking at the possibilities of opening a Paris route last year).

The Atlantic Airways A320 went home via Exeter for a field stop.

[LGWAlan]

Fr24 shows otherwise as a direct flight.

[KindaUnstuck]

The Atlantic Airways A320 went home via Exeter for a field stop.

It was due to, but then about an hour before take off I noticed it changed on Flight Radar and she went direct, which was a surprise as it wasn't even the NEO

[Jerbourg]

The Atlantic Airways A320 went home via Exeter for a field stop.


A stop off in EXT was the original plan, however it went direct in the end.

[davidjohnson6]

I understand that Guernsey airport is closed at the moment (9 August morning). Is there somebody reading this who would be kind enough to say why ?

[Aero Mad]

METAR: Runway 27 RVR 75m no change, 100m visibility, fog, overcast
TAF: 300m vis, TEMPO 2000m 0700-1600, BECMG 4000m 1100-1300

[Commanche 250]

I understand that Guernsey airport is closed at the moment (9 August morning). Is there somebody reading this who would be kind enough to say why ?

An airport is not "closed" due to prevailing weather conditions. It's just that flights may not be able to operate due to conditions being below weather minima.

[GCILover]

An airport is not "closed" due to prevailing weather conditions. It's just that flights may not be able to operate due to conditions being below weather minima.

apparently the runway lights are also broken

[GCILover]

I have also been informed that the jet is leaving in December. The shortage in Gatwick seats will be compensated by a double daily London City service, the shortage in Manchester seats will be compensated by a Liverpool service. They are also supposedly looking at doing a Paris service on a Friday and Monday

[Commanche 250]

apparently the runway lights are also broken

Just further increasing the weather minima!

[Aero Mad]

I have also been informed that the jet is leaving in December. The shortage in Gatwick seats will be compensated by a double daily London City service, the shortage in Manchester seats will be compensated by a Liverpool service. They are also supposedly looking at doing a Paris service on a Friday and Monday

One for the https://www.pprune.org/airlines-airports-routes/638503-aurigny-air-services-3-a-6.html?ispreloading=1 thread!

[KindaUnstuck]

Been told that EDI should be back as a proper route next summer - twice weekly, not sure of the carrier (Loganair or Aurigny).

[bmaviscount]

I know there are issues with NATS today but why have two Blue islands flights done a go around at GCI this pm from SOU and JER?

[KindaUnstuck]

Fly direct look to be adding a second weekly charter flight during the summer, this time to Faro using a BA CityFlyer Embraer 190

The Faro aircraft is due to arrive as the Menorca aircraft is leaving so could end up with both on the ground at the same time.

[Jerbourg]

The PMI flight arrives at 0840 & departs 0925, the FAO flight arrives at 0930 & departs 1020.
PMI starts 5th May and Faro 26th May.

[Jerbourg]

Aurigny will be starting new routes to EDI, LPL & CDG in summer 2024, STN & LCY will also be returning to the schedule.