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Aurigny would run a far more sustainable operation to Alderney if it was given responsibility for the PSO lifeline route to the island, the airline’s CEO has said.
Mark Darby confirmed to Express they have put an entirely new set of proposals to the States as part of the current tender process, which was launched by Economic Development last October.
That process was meant to have concluded in front of the States last month, but the Committee President, Charles Parkinson, said they had over run, and had not yet seen proposals to choose a winner.
Pictured: Alderney Airport's runway should be getting an upgrade soon. Image from airports.gg.
ED decided to open the Public Service Operation for tendering because Policy & Resources suggested it could be a way to improve Aurigny’s notoriously bad finances surrounding the route.
And while Mr Darby said he did not believe Aurigny’s current set up was not sustainable at all, he added: “We have now proposed something that we believe is sustainable.
“We hope it is us [that is chosen for the PSO] because that gives continuity of the service to Alderney. [That] is the most important thing for us.
“If the States decides to go for another operator, the big concern will be how do we keep the operation going in the meantime. The challenge will be making sure that if it is not us – which we expect it to be, as we think we are the best operator – we keep the lights on while any transition happens.”
The PSO should secure the lifeline route to Aurigny.
As is evident in Aurigny’s annual figures, Alderney is currently a major loss-making route. For example, in 2019’s Aurigny budget a £3m. loss through just flights to the island is expected. That is part of a total £4.4m. forecast loss. Nonetheless though, the route is a lifeline one, essential to the residents of the island.
Going out to tender for the route has principally been used as an opportunity to review the market’s best offerings for providing the service, to enable that service to carry on running but also to reel in the losses it makes.
The difficulties arise with Alderney because of over-capacity on the regular flights, bad weather, and the nature of short flights. Mr Darby gave some insight into this: “One of the many challenges in Alderney is the runway, and we are expecting the work on that to commence in the not too distant future, and that will help getting off the ground.
“[And] the fact it is a short flight doesn’t make it a cheap flight, it actually makes it per-minute a very expensive flight. That’s the difficulty – the cost of fuel is negligible in comparison to the costs at either end with landing costs, security, ground staff and so on.”
Pictured: Mark Darby CEO.
Despite the fact the contract winning company was meant to be presented to the States in February 2019, there has so far been no news. Deputy Parkinson said their staff were still evaluating the proposals and they had not yet been presented to the committee. He confirmed they were not going to hit their deadline of having the transition to the chosen operator in April.
Mr Darby added: “The process is ongoing. As far as we understand it there may have been one or two other bidders. We suspect that there is no one else really qualified to be offering the services that Alderney needs and deserves. We bid for it – no secret there – but the States are now going through the evaluation process.
“We do want it though, we have been on the route for 50 odd years, we think that it is our route, and while it is expensive to operate, we think we do it efficiently with good reliability and punctuality – we are the right choice.”
Pictured top: A dornier at Alderney Airport.
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