Winter slots to Heathrow turned down

Monday 14 September 2020

Aurigny was offered the chance to operate a daily service to Heathrow this winter, it has been revealed.

Flybe secured States' subsidies totalling more than £800,000 to operate the route between March and October last year.

Use of those slots was then extended to cover the winter season, however the management of Connect Airways pulled the plug on the route shortly before the newly-rebranded airline went bust in March this year. 

It has emerged that the slots have since been offered to Aurigny on a temporary basis. However, it has been decided that running a daily service would come at a "significant cost" for not enough benefit. 

Pictured: Accepting the Heathrow slots would have had a direct impact on the airline's ability to run the Gatwick route this winter. 

The proposal was discussed by Aurigny and the States' Trading Supervisory Board at a joint quarterly meeting last week.

"The offer to take up winter only Heathrow slots, with no possibility of grandfather rights for the future, were discussed at length," a spokesman for the STSB confirmed. 

“Given that demand for services to London this winter is expected to be substantially down on previous years - due to the Covid situation – additional traffic is not anticipated.

"Therefore in order to operate these slots, the Heathrow service would need to be substituted for a Gatwick service. There would therefore be a significant cost to operate a daily service to Heathrow for this winter only.

“Given the costs to the airline and the temporary nature of the slots, the STSB unanimously agreed to support Aurigny’s position not to take up this offer.”

No date has been confirmed for the island's move to Phase 5c, which will bring with it a relaxation of current travel restrictions, with Aurigny already pushing back its proposed winter schedule just two weeks after it was unveiled to start later this month.