25 March, 2015

Alderney Route Battles

According to a special report, released to the BBC in the Channel Island a new airline could be about to take on the Alderney to Guernsey route.

The leaked proposal given to the Alderney policy and finance committee, will guarantee exclusive rights to fly the route to Isle of Man based airline, Citywing for five years.

The airline proposes to operate two LET 410 aircraft on scheduled daily flights to Guernsey and Southampton.

Aurigny Airlines CEO, Mark Darby, complains he wasn't invited to discuss the CityWing proposal with the States.  "Letting the BBC have sight of a bid document to run an Alderney based passenger service is an unusual way to go public on this." he said.

Alderney's policy and finance committee commissioned the report in 2014 after a series of delays on flights into the island by Aurigny. Neil Harvey, chairman of the committee, said no decision had been made as it had not been discussed by the States as a whole. He also mentioned the island was also in talks with Aurigny, which is owned by the States of Guernsey, over securing a service agreement.

If the CityWings proposal was approved in Alderney there would still be other issues, according to Mr Harvey. "The role of the States of Alderney is fairly significant in the report as the States would suffer the costs of any flights delayed or cancelled due to weather conditions."

Search