THE boss of Aurigny said he had been “totally taken by surprise” on Friday night by Blue Island’s cessation of flying and that the Guernsey taxpayer-owned airline had not been involved in any discussions with Blue Islands or any officials about a merger or other relationship in before the airline’s collapse.
CEO Nico Bezuidenhout said: “Aurigny and Blue Islands have been partners, for example, on the Southampton route for a long time, and during the course of that relationship, we have had different discussions of how we could optimise things, such as delivering better service and having more sustainable business outcomes.
“However, specifically in terms of the narrative that we were approached in the last week, or on the run up to their cessation of flights: no, we have not been involved in that context.”
Mr Bezuidenhout said he thought Blue Islands “had a tough year from an operational standpoint [with] several probably largely unforeseeable events that affected aircraft capacity, which would have affected their liquidity.
“These were mostly technical events, such as engine failures. These are high-cost items that end up grounding aircraft, and it affected them from a liquidity standpoint.”
He added: “They obviously had a level of recourse in terms of or who they could turn to in terms of their debt and funding facilities. It was my understanding that arrangements were in place between themselves and the States of Jersey, and that situation ended up changing, and that had an effect.”
Aurigny enhanced its operation in light of the shutdown, including introducing extra Guernsey-Southampton and Jersey-Guernsey flights, as well as early morning and evening inter-island services and a £49.99 rescue fare for stranded passengers.
Asked about Aurigny’s position, should Loganair have been incentivised by Jersey to fly between the Island and Guernsey, Mr Bezuidenhout replied: “I am not aware that previously, when Blue Islands was operating the route between Guernsey and Jersey, that Blue Islands was receiving any direct subsidy or financial aid from the States of Jersey specifically for the route between Guernsey and Jersey.
“However, if that is now the case, then it would be creating a skew in the market, and I wouldn’t necessarily understand what the reason for doing so would be, but I have not seen any evidence of that happening.”
On whether Jersey owning its own airline was a model that could work, he said: “It is always difficult to say that anybody made the right decision when the consequence is extreme volatility, passengers affected, and more than 100 people unemployed.
“Those 100 people are taxpayers in whichever jurisdiction they live in, and that is definitely not an ideal outcome.
“As far as Jersey’s air policy is concerned, I wouldn’t want to be critical or comment too deeply on it. I respect the fact that their policy direction has been not to own airlines, but to provide subsidies, either publicly declared or commercially sensitive.”
Mr Bezuidenhout said Aurigny had done some contingency planning should a competitor withdraw, but nothing had prepared the airline for Friday evening.
He said: “…Unless you have privileged information knowing of… a certain outcome that is guaranteed to take place on an exact date and time, it is nigh impossible to have a fully fledged plan ready to just pull off the shelf.
“I can most certainly tell you that even if we did have contingency plans, that plan would not have been built around an uncontrolled implosion on a Friday night leading up to the festive season.”
