Aurigny adds two ATRs as reliability falls below UK

The airline is standardising on the same model of ATR plane to help improve overall reliability

Aurigny will lease two new aircraft from July in an effort to improve the reliability of its services, which has dropped below the UK average in recent months, according to the company's CEO.

The Guernsey-based airline hopes adding two aircraft to its fleet of ATR 72-600s will reduce cancellations and delays.

Nico Bezuidenhout, CEO of Aurigny, said the airline's punctuality rate was normally "well above" the UK average, but 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."

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

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 recent issues.

The airline has been hit with a series of problems in recent months, including delays, replacement aircraft and a plane overshooting the runway.

'Overstretched'

David Piesing, a regular Aurigny passenger, said the airline was "overstretched" and was operating "too many routes with not enough aircraft".

Mr Piesing said: "Any delays, any technical problems and they just can't catch up. Something has to change."

He said he believed the solution was more "wet leasing", where the airline leases planes and crew on a pay-as-you-fly basis, but the high costs would make it harder for Aurigny to breakeven.

He said: "It's constantly a battle for business travellers as well as for island residents generally."

Mr Bezuidenhout said although a reduction of routes could improve resilience, the airline's reliability issues pre-dated the new routes.