Guernsey lucky to have Aurigny - aviation expert

Aurigny's CEO Nico Bezuidenhout said it had been a "misery" of a year for the airline

Guernsey is lucky to have Aurigny and is better connected than similar airports, according to an aviation expert.

Louise Congdon, from consultancy York Aviation, told an audience of business leaders at an Institute of Directors (IOD) panel event that "Guernsey ain't doing bad connectivity-wise".

It follows a year of disruption to States-owned airline Aurigny, resulting in a review being commissioned by the States Trading Supervisory Board of the airline's fleet.

Aurigny's CEO Nico Bezuidenhout apologised to the audience and said it had been a "misery" of a year for the airline but that things had improved in the past month.

Deputy Peter Roffey, who leads the States Trading Supervisory Board (STSB), which oversees Guernsey's Airport, said Aurigny's performance this year had been "unacceptable" but added "things are improving".

When asked by audience members what could be learned from this year's disruption, Mr Bezuidenhout said "not much" because of the one-off nature of the technical incidents but he admitted customer communications had to improve.

He admitted "we've never been good at communication" and he added that the disruption this year had damaged the company's reputation.

Aurigny's CEO said the company had "never been good at communication"

Marketing Director at Norman Piette Lindsey Hart said "she was feeling slightly more optimistic about Aurigny's prospects" following a difficult year for the company.

She added: "I would have liked more detail on how the company was looking to make sure what happened this year won't happen again."

Charlotte Dunsterville, from the IOD, said: "I think they have had a bad year and Nico, to his credit, owned that.

"A lot of it has been technical problems.

"Let's hope the technical problems are sorted out and they have said they will improve communications so I do think things will improve."