Nearly one in ten Alderney residents turned up to peacefully protest the perceived lack of reliable air links to the island on Sunday.
Aurigny’s CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout, apologised to the crowd of nearly 200 people, blaming recent bad weather for the majority of delayed and cancelled flights.
One protester said Mr Bezuidenhout was “a very brave man to come to Alderney and face the music”, but wasn’t convinced things would improve.
“Hopefully, he’s now grasped the situation; that the island is suffering everywhere from business to tourism – we can’t go on like this.”
Another said Mr Bezuidenhout was making “pathetic excuses” and that communication with customers had been “appalling”.
Aurigny Chairman Kevin George told Express he took “the concerns raised by the local population and political representatives in Alderney extremely seriously”.
Performance had improved since the Twin Otters were introduced, he said, but Aurigny and Skybus were both “determined that future performance will build further on these foundations”.
Delays
The protest came days after Aurigny announced its latest series of flight disruptions, with “selected flights” cancelled until Thursday 26 March.
The airline blamed “unforeseen pilot absence at Skybus” for the latest delays.
Mr Bezuidenhout told the crowd that just 18 flights out of more than 1,000 in January and February had been cancelled for “non-weather related reasons”.
He said 88% of all flights had left within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time.
Mr Bezuidenhout said 1% fewer flights were cancelled during the first two months of the year than the same period in 2025, however he still was “not happy” with the airline’s performance.
Aurigny recently moved away from Dornier aircraft for its Alderney routes to Twin Otters, operated by Skybus.
Mr Bezuidenhout said the decision was made because only a handful of Dorniers were still left flying anywhere in the world, compared to hundreds of Twin Otters.
Failing system
Organisers said they timed the protest for 15:00 on Sunday as it would “cause the least disruption to airport staff, in between flights”.
“This isn’t about them – it’s about the system that keeps failing our island.”
An online petition set up on Monday has already gathered more than 250 signatures after less than five hours.
Alderney’s top political committee, Policy and Finance (P&F), recently wrote to Aurigny’s shareholder the States Trading Supervisory Board (STSB) to raise its concerns about the airline’s performance.
However, P&F got a public telling off from Deputy Mark Helyar, STSB President, who said it broke “protocol” by contacting the STSB and maintained its claims were not supported by the data.
He even went as far as accusing P&F of trying to “interfere in the governance” of the larger island.
However, P&F President Jeannie Cameron dismissed Deputy Helyar’s objections, saying his response was “not conducive to the spirit of cooperation that should underpin working relationships across the Bailiwick”.
She told Express it was “entirely appropriate” for P&F to contact STSB to “obtain clarity on the situation”.