Aurigny lands in Jersey... again

Tuesday 26 February 2019

Airline Aurigny is to touch down in Jersey again after five years away, offering flights to Guernsey twice a day.

Starting in May, the States of Guernsey-owned airline will also be flying direct from Guernsey to Southampton.

The two new routes are the first to take advantage of Guernsey's new open skies policy, directly competing with Flybe and Blue Islands.

These services will be run using one of the existing leased ATR aircraft and have been established as part of the expansion of Aurigny’s route portfolio. 

Pictured: Chief Executive Mark Darby said these new routes would help them achieve their States-set objective of being in a "break-even position."

Aurigny said the new routes would help it to reach a "break-even position", and would "offer customers greater choice, reliability, and an additional inter-island business connection."

"We are delighted to be returning to Jersey and offering a further service from Guernsey to Southampton. People often ask me when we will return to our sister island, given Aurigny’s heritage on the route," Mark Darby, Aurigny's Chief Executive, said.

"We will be offering weekday morning and evening flights on both new routes, giving customers the choice of a day return to either destination and convenient times for business, medical and leisure passengers.”

Pictured: Islanders will have the opportunity to visit Guernsey twice a day.

Aurigny said that these latest routes were being worked on for some time, but that final approvals have only just been forthcoming, leading them to announce the news today.

With the two return flights set to be in the morning and later in the day, there will be a slot around lunch time which Aurigny are looking to fill in due course.

"This is being looked into in consultation with VisitGuernsey and the Committee for Economic Development and will be used to further Aurigny’s ‘economic enablement’ objective."

Pictured: Aurigny is owned by the States of Guernsey.

Aurigny had been a stalwart presence across Jersey and Guernsey, having flown between both islands since 1969. But that stopped in 2014 when, after a decade of competition with Blue Islands on the inter-island route, the airline signed a deal marking the end of their Jersey presence.

After five years away, they'll now be making their grand touchdown in Jersey in May.

Full schedules will be available for booking from Friday 1 March.