Air Alderney-2

[toscana24]

We are certainly in strange times. Covid-19 has led to Aurigny abandoning the SOU/ACI route and there is much talk on the island that it will never resume. One reason for being pessimistic is that in summer AUR would need 3 Dorniers but only now have 2.

Many of the Alderney residents (and most second home owners) have ties to the UK mainland (mainly in the South) and SOU hospital is where many islanders go for treatment. Neither have a desire to stage through Guernsey to SOU/EXT/BRS/LGW etc and to go via Guernsey costs roughly double the cost of flying direct (or it did for me on my last trip). There are also quite strong ties of the Alderney population to France (far more than to Jersey actually) and a boat charter trip operated weekly this past summer to Cherbourg from Alderney.

A further factor is the current timing of the AUR flights and the connections in GCI to ACI. On many days, to connect to ACI means an 08.30 departure from SOU (impractical for many by train) as the evening flight ex SOU arrives in GCI well after the last ACI flight has left.

So if AUR do not resume the SOU/ACI route, a replacement Air Alderney route (to SOU/Hurn/Lee on Solent or wherever) could well be viable especially as the fare base is no longer about £100 a sector but usually c £200 (via Guernsey). One boat operator (True Blue) have spotted the gap in the market and ran transfers from Poole this summer at £120 each way.

The AUR SOU service has, in past years, been two rotations daily in winter and 4 daily in summer (76 seats). So IF a BN Islander could profitably operate UK/ACI at £125 or similar I would expect reasonable demand for several rotations a day. Tagging on a leg to France (or Jersey) ex ACI might also work (in summer).
There have been some references in the last few days to the GCI/ACI PSO process collapsing and the talk is that no one has bid for it -so perhaps even ACI/GCI might open up for Air Alderney?

[kcockayne]

Thanks for that info.toscana. If it turns out to be correct I will have to eat my words ! Anything could happen in these desperate days; so, maybe we might see Air Alderney operating after all. I have nothing against them I would just like to see some action .

[calypso]

and with inflation the 95% hit is already over 100% in real terms

I think you need to work on those maths

[davidjohnson6]

Solent and Cherbourg airports seem to have been removed from the website. Shoreham remains on the destination list, but Brighton-Alderney seems a bit of an odd route
Whether Air Alderney actually ends up carrying fare paying passengers is another matter...

[davidjohnson6]

Looks like Air Alderney are still trying to fly
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/109314-air-alderney-dusts-off-relaunch-plans-applies-for-an-ol

[commit aviation]

The article is dated 20th Oct 2020. Has anything changed recently?

[davidjohnson6]

The first free article about taking delivery of an Islander is indeed from last year. The headline above it, about applying for an OL, to which a paywall applies, is from yesterday

[kcockayne]

And the likelihood of them ever operating; never ?

[nighthawk117]

I believe this licence was granted yesterday.

[Flightrider]

They did a CAA proving flight about a month ago and it sounded to have gone well. It sounds like Shoreham and possibly Exeter on the cards as destinations from Alderney.

[055166k]

The trusty Trislander is still parked up at Lee on Solent. The airport is also knee-deep in parked up Islanders painted grey, as well as some in other colours.

[davidjohnson6]

Islanders painted grey - what is the implied meaning on this ?

[TCAS FAN]

Ex MOD which have recently been sold off?

[AirUK]

As far as I see it, whilst I wish them well, I fail to see how Shoreham would work, or why there would be any demand for such a route - if it’s for its proximity to Gatwick, then by the time you’ve got a cab to the nearest station and got the stopping service to Gatwick, you might as well be on an express train from Parkway to Clapham Junction and onto Gatwick from there, surely? (Other large British airports are available)!

Useful routes from Alderney:- Cherbourg or Caen (nearest large [French] cities, with good rail links to the rest of France, also good for a day return in either direction), and - shock horror - Southampton, to increase frequencies on the route and increase competition to force prices down and make it more accessible for mainlanders and islanders alike… but then I’m no expert and could be proven completely wrong! Just my 2p worth.

[bmaviscount]

I was thinking the same thing
Others have tried Shorham snd Bournemouth and failed
Capacity with Aurigny can be very constrained at times . Thinking of Londoners who want a weekend in Alderney; Southampton is the best bet. Shame they can’t nip
out of LGW

[Gurnard]

Another proving or publicity flight took place last Saturday (6th November) with G-BLNI positioning from Biggin to Alderney, then returning to Biggin via Shoreham. You certainly have to give them some credit for perseverance!

[kcockayne]

EXTREMELY slow perseverance ! I retired in 2007, & I'm sure that the project was "underway" then.

[Aero Mad]

Rockhopper/Blue Islands (2004-08), Aurigny and JEA (both brief stints in the 1980s) all tried Alderney-Shoreham and all were lucky to break even. Le Cocq's/Rockhopper/BI (1999-2009), Alderney Air Ferries/Metropolitan (1979-85) and Aviation West/Air Camelot (1985-86) had slightly greater success to Bournemouth. Ultimately, as many have discovered but many also seem quickly to forget, the Alderney market is both small and extremely seasonal. Running an airline to support an island of 2,000 people doesn't ordinarily make much money on its own, which is why Aurigny started its first non-Alderney route (GCI-JER) - which really paid the bills - within two months of starting up.

The States of Alderney put out a statement yesterday noting that Air Alderney has yet to acquire any route licences. After four years of putting out statements with launch dates, and having fallen at the licence hurdle once before, this company seems brave to have done so again.

[jmdavies86]

According to ch-aviation, Air Alderney have apparently secured its OL - can't post a link to the full article as I'm not a PRO Subscriber myself yet.

[Albert Hall]

Yep - it was posted in the CAA Official Record last week. A great achievement for them.

[davidjohnson6]

What are the major obstacles remaining (if any) before they can take money on credit cards for tickets ?

[kcockayne]

Finding some routes that they can make any money on.

[AirUK]

What are the major obstacles remaining (if any) before they can take money on credit cards for tickets ?

Just convincing the public that they want to fly between Shoreham and Alderney…

[davidjohnson6]

A new website seems to have gone live with a claimed facility to book tickets.
It doesn't seem to work well with mobile phones though - best stick with using something with a larger screen like a laptop.

The back end for booking tickets seems to be Air Kiosk. Seems a little ropey to me, and maybe not as easy to use as some other booking system providers. I'm struggling to understand what their flight schedule will be

That said, once I see them having operated a few days' worth of flights on FR24, I hope to be able to support them

[kcockayne]

Flight Schedule ? Once in a blue moon, I should think !

[Jerbourg]

A report in the Guernsey Press this week stated that Air Alderney will acquire a Trislander for Alderney operations! :ugh:
I'll refrain from posting what I said when I read the article.

[Aero Mad]

This was announced in a Facebook post post

which claims that the aircraft will operate around the 'Chanel Islands' [sic] from 'Q4 2022'.

With only seven airworthy aircraft left in the world currently to choose from, all in the Caribbean, it will be most interesting to see which airframe turns up... if it does. (Given AA's previous history of announcements which don't come to pass, it would hardly be surprising if nothing ever does.) If it did, it would be the last and only example of a type - whose manufacturing finished around 1978 (the aircraft completed afterwards were effectively kits) - flying in the UK, Europe and the northern hemisphere.

Aurigny's experience from 2013-17 suggests that it hardly will be straightforward to keep a Trislander airworthy on a sufficiently reliable basis to operate to any schedule.

[kcockayne]

They won't have to keep a Trislander airworthy , because it isn't going to happen. This is a fantasy airline with make believe aircraft & non existent routes.

[bean]

They won't have to keep a Trislander airworthy , because it isn't going to happen. This is a fantasy airline with make believe aircraft & non existent routes.
A fantasy airline with an aircraft an operating licence and an AOC.
I see you still don't do any research before posting

[kcockayne]

A fantasy airline with an aircraft an operating licence and an AOC.
I see you still don't do any research before posting
Bean, I know all of that but, regardless, it is a fantasy airline. It may have an aircraft & an AOC, but in the last ten years of following its "progress", it has never operated one scheduled flight, or carried a fare paying passenger on a scheduled flight. It has no routes or licences & the one that it DID have, Alderney to Jersey, never operated one flight because, surprise surprise, shortly before it was due to start they discovered that the licence had expired! Never mind, they were going to resubmit an application: but I don't think that ever happened, either. In my view, it is a fantasy airline.

[davidjohnson6]

6 months on, and are Air Alderney any nearer to being a "real" airline ?

[Aero Mad]

And just eight days until the beginning of Q4, when Mr Brem-Wilson has committed to having a Trislander in operation. There are no airworthy Trislanders in North America, Europe or Asia at the moment, so expecting great things and a long ferry flight up from the Caribbean in the next week. Exciting times.

(see post #27)

[kcockayne]

Still not a fantasy, bean ?