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”.
“As an airline, we will never compromise safety,” says Bezuidenhout. “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 issues in recent months, including delays, and a replacement aircraft overshooting the runway. This comes after the International Airline Transport Association (IATA) posts increasing year-on-year (YoY) industry wide passenger growth rates.
On the 12 May the Guernsey airline posted on its website: “We are experiencing disruption to our schedule today due to a lack of available aircraft. We have attempted to contact all affected passengers by email”
Meanwhile Aurigny asks that, “all passengers to arrive at the airport on time as normal, as check-in and security processes will close 45 minutes prior to the originally scheduled departure time unless otherwise advised directly by us via email.”
Image accredited to ATR
