New Chief Executive at Aurigny

Thursday 20 August 2020

A former head of South Africa Airways has been named as the new Chief Executive of Aurigny.

Nico Bezuidenhout, who led South Africa’s flag carrier as acting CEO in 2014-2015, will join the States of Guernsey-owned airline in the next few months, replacing Mark Darby (pictured top), who has led the airline since 2013.

Mr Bezuidenhout is also founder and former Chief Executive of Mango Airlines, a low-cost subsidiary of SAA. 

An Aurigny spokesperson said: “Since Mark took over as Chief Executive of Aurigny, he has overseen the modernisation of Aurigny, a complete fleet renewal; including the introduction of the Embraer E195 jet; the replacement of the old ATRs with new ATR 72-600s; and the replacement of the aging Trislander fleet with Dornier 228NG aircraft.

“He has also been responsible for the creation of Aurigny’s own ground handling operations at London Gatwick and overseen the complete overhaul of the air-fare tariff options and the launch of an updated website.

Pictured: Under Mark Darby's leadership, Aurigny replaced its Trislanders with Dorniers.

“Mark was able to drive the business close to its break-even target on its services in 2018 under the framework agreed with Aurigny’s shareholder, the States of Guernsey.”

The airline said Mr Bezuidenhout was the preferred candidate from a “number of highly qualified airline executives from various parts of the world”.

At the same time, Aurigny’s Chairman Andrew Haining, has been replaced by former aviation executive Kevin George, who is currently Chairman of Isle of Wight ferry operator, the Red Funnel Group.