Aurigny is training seven new pilots as the airline plans to avoid long term disruption seen on a wide scale last year.
The airline outlined its plans while also confirming the current status of its aircraft after two recent incidents.
One of its ATRs remains out of action after a tail strike a week ago – while another has returned to service just over 12 hours after another incident.
The incident last Tuesday, involving G-PEMB (pictured top), contributed to disruption over the Easter weekend as the airline was an aircraft down and had to reply on wet leases to operate services.
Aurigny said that its schedules had to be reviewed as a result of the damage caused, which engineers are still working to fix. The airline has said that may take some time.
“We can confirm that aircraft G-PEMB is currently out of service following a tail strike,” said a spokesperson. “Our engineering team is working closely with our partners to fully assess the extent of the damage and determine the timeline for its safe return to service.
“In the meantime, our operations team has reviewed the flying programme and is implementing additional aircraft resilience measures through ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) arrangements, as necessary.
“We remain committed to maintaining a reliable and safe service for our customers.”
Aurigny’s recent woes continued with an additional incident affecting a different aircraft yesterday evening.
A spokesperson for the airline apologised after passengers due to fly to London City were affected.
Flight GR410 bound for London City Airport returned to Guernsey shortly after departure following a technical issue.
The aircraft landed as normal and all affected passengers were rebooked.
An Aurigny spokesman said: “We ask for understanding that the safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is of the highest importance and thank our customers for their patience and understanding.”
They since added that the “aircraft was inspected and has since been safely returned to service”.
Seven new pilots
The recent issues coincided with plans to add seven pilots to Aurigny’s 50-strong team of captains and first officers this year.
The airline said it has run a successful recruitment campaign to overcome the industry-wide pilot shortage.
Nico Bezuidenhout, CEO of Aurigny, said this is one way the airline is working to avoid any disruption on a similar level to that experienced by hundreds of passengers during 2024.
“I want to reassure the community that we are not headed towards disruption on the scale that we experienced last year,” he said.
“We now have fleet stability and the recruitment of these pilots is another step on the road to ensuring operational resilience for the summer.”
The recruitment of ATR captains has been a particular area of focus for Aurigny, said Mr Bezuidenhout.
All other areas of the airline’s staffing, including ATR first officers, cabin crew, and Dornier pilots are at the required levels he said, adding that normal recruitment is ongoing, with a range of vacancies listed on the Aurigny website.
Leading the recruitment project is aviation industry professional Philip Smallwood, who has more than 16 years of executive management experience at easyJet.
He is now the Chief Operations Officer at Aurigny.
“As with many organisations, recruitment is an ongoing priority,” said Mr Smallwood.
“We’ve put even more focus into our efforts following an unanticipated shortfall in pilot numbers due to illness and attrition in the first three months of this year. As a small island we face a significant challenge securing the right talent and basing them in Guernsey. I’m pleased our efforts have been successful. We now move into a training phase – which of course takes time. We appreciate the continued patience of our passengers and the community as we onboard this new team.”
Training for the seven new pilots will begin in May, with the expectation that they will be operational to support peak summer flying from July.