History
Aurigny Air Services was founded by Sir Derrick Bailey and started operations on 1 March 1968 after British United Airways withdrew the Alderney to Guernsey route. It operated Britten-Norman Islander aircraft originally, developing a highly efficient network linking the Channel Islands with each other and with France and the United Kingdom During the first year of operations the airline carried 45,000 passengers between Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney.
Aurigny became the first commercial operator of the Britten-Norman Trislander in July 1971 and the airline remains the world’s largest operator of the type. Use of this larger aircraft enabled the route structure to be developed to include the south coast of England and northern France. In 1977, Aurigny was the first airline in the world to ban smoking on all services. In 1993, Aurigny won a contract to carry mail between the Channel Islands and the UK and in 1999 it began daily services from Guernsey to London Stansted Airport and Amsterdam Airport operated by Saab 340 aircraft. The latter route was later dropped due to poor demand.
Ownership of the airline passed from Aurigny Aviation Holdings to Close Brothers Private Equity on 23 May 2000, but was wholly acquired by States of Guernsey on 15 May 2003, after British Airways announced that it was to cease flying between London Gatwick and Guernsey (just two months before the Island Games). It employs 300 staff in the Channel Islands, France and the United Kingdom. Aurigny also operates charter services, wet-leases aircraft to other operators and is a handling agent for various other airlines which fly into Guernsey, including Air Berlin.
In June 2006, a survey by market researchers islandopinion.com showed that Aurigny is the most popular airline which served Guernsey. On 21 June 2007, Aurigny got permission from its sole shareholder, the States of Guernsey, to raise a private loan to purchase two new ATR 72-500 aircraft which entered service in March 2009. Aurigny celebrated 40 years in operation in 2008. It was voted 4th best short-haul airline in a poll published in the consumer magazine Which?. In a survey of 30,000 members looked at 71 airlines and asked readers to rate each carrier for standards of check-in, cabin staff, cleanliness, food and entertainment.
March 2009 saw Aurigny announce that it was to operate a Jersey and London Stansted route, whilst restarting the Guernsey and East Midlands link. Daily flights commenced from 1 May 2009. The frequency of flights from Guernsey to London Gatwick was increased from 4 to 5 daily return flights that day. In August 2009, Aurigny announced that it would be operating winter flights to Grenoble using its ATR 72-500 equipment. The flights ran from 26 December 2009 to mid-way through February 2010. This was repeated for the 2010/2011 winter season, but flights were continued until March. The extension did not prove viable and the previous length of operation was restored for the 2011/2012 season. Thanks to the change, it noted that demand was stronger due to a decreased period of availability.
It was revealed in July 2010 that Blue Islands was planning to buy Aurigny, and was undergoing a due diligence process with Treasury and Resources department of the States of Guernsey. This sparked major debate throughout the islands, and a Facebook page in opposition of proposed buy-out gained 530 members. On 14 September, Treasury and Resources announced that the sale would not go ahead.
The withdrawal of Blue Islands from Alderney on 9 May 2011 left Aurigny with a monopoly on that island for the first time in over a decade. However, it was criticised later that year for cutting the number of flights to Southampton, not lowering prices and reducing services to twice daily over that winter; Malcolm Hart later reaffirmed its commitment to the route and admitted that encouraging passengers to fly via Guernsey had been 'the biggest mistake in Aurigny's recent history'. At the end of 2011, it rolled out the first GPS approach system in Europe, for use by its Trislanders at Alderney and Southampton airports. This would allow flights in lower visibility and in poorer weather.
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