Aurigny performance criticised as 'not acceptable'

Aurigny's problems are "in danger of damaging Guernsey's reputation" if they continue, according to the president of the SSTB

The president of the government body which owns Aurigny has said the airline's performance is "just not acceptable".

Peter Roffey, president of the States Supervisory Trading Board (SSTB), said the airline's problems were "in danger of damaging Guernsey's reputation" if they continued.

He said the trading board, which is the sole shareholder of Aurigny, had been "drilling home" the message the airline needed to "sort it our ASAP".

The airline's CEO said they had a "clear plan in place" to recover its schedule despite recent difficulties.

'Constant dialogue'

Mr Roffey said he did have some sympathy for the airline as it had been hit by a "perfect storm of almost unforeseeable events".

He said he understood how "incredibly frustrating" the current problems were for passengers having "been caught up in it" himself.

Mr Roffey supported the "very positive move" the airline was making towards a standardised fleet of ATR planes, which he said would benefit the island long-term and be more cost effective.

However, he said the "process of getting" there was the problem as the airline thought it had "built enough resilience, but it clearly didn't prove to be enough".

Mr Roffey said the SSTB was in a "constant dialogue" with Aurigny telling it "what we think" in its role as shareholder of the airline, but stressed that the trading board didn't have oversight of the day-to-day running of the company.

He said he personally had confidence in Aurigny's management but would be "putting pressure on them" to put things right.

'Unforeseeable events'

Nico Bezuidenhout, CEO of Aurigny, recently said the airline's performance had dropped in the last four months due to a series of "utterly unforeseeable technical events".

Mr Bezuidenhout said: "As an airline, we will never compromise safety."

"We have to prioritise getting passengers to their destinations as booked, even if that means in some instances delaying flights."

Mr Bezuidenhout said the airline had a "clear plan in place" to recover its schedule despite recent difficulties, he said, but he offered his "sincere apologies" to passengers affected by delays.