Aurigny slams Flybe’s outperformance claims

By Joel de Woolfson

A ROW has erupted between Flybe and Aurigny over the Exeter-based airline’s claim that it is outperforming its rival on the Guernsey to Gatwick route.

Flybe issued a press release yesterday claiming that it had received official recognition of its better punctuality and reliability record on the route after topping tables on flightstats.com for the period 1 March to 30 April. It said the website is used by Jersey Airport as a measure for airline performance.

Flybe was the only airline to get a ‘very good’ rating on the site for the highlighted period, achieving better punctuality and reliability than Aurigny.

‘Because of the sheer popularity of this particular route, summer always presents additional operational challenges and this validation is an absolutely fantastic start to the beginning of our summer season,’ said Mike Rutter, chief commercial officer for Flybe.

‘It is a credit to all Flybe staff and our handling agents in achieving and maintaining the punctuality and reliability of its services, both components of which are at the forefront of passenger expectation.

‘Our jet service to London Gatwick provides a level of convenience and reliability that is unmatched by our competitor on this key route and the statistics highlight that we are easily outperforming Aurigny on this strategically important route.’

But Aurigny slammed Flybe and claimed the website’s findings were nothing to be proud of.

‘We invite the public of Guernsey to go to flightstats.com to look at the figures for themselves,’ said commercial director Malcolm Coupar.

‘We find it hard to believe why Flybe consider these statistics to be something worth shouting about.

‘Flybe also states that it has a “jet service to London Gatwick that provides a level of convenience and reliability that is unmatched by our competitor.”.

‘I would like to see the reaction to that statement from the poor Southampton passengers who were left stranded this morning, when Flybe decided to take the Southampton turboprop aircraft to operate its Gatwick service because the “reliable jet” had a technical problem.

‘We have long said that our policy is to get people to their destination as quickly as we can and we are opposed to cancelling flights.

‘That policy does impact on our punctuality statistics, but we believe that our customers’ priorities are more important than some statistics.’