FLYBE will ask passengers to claim compensation direct from the States if a lack of firefighter cover grounds its aircraft.
General manager market development Ian Taylor said the airline was some £124,000 out of pocket following disruption in February and its efforts to get the money back from the States have so far been unsuccessful.
‘We had to refund passengers who were unable to travel, pay for charter aircraft, passenger accommodation and taxis to get people to onward destinations and coach transfers in the UK,’ he said. ‘It was hugely expensive.’
Mr Taylor (pictured) said that letters pursuing compensation had been rebuffed, ‘so we have taken further advice with a view to taking the matter to the Royal Court’.
He said that the airline did not want to apportion blame, but said the pay dispute almost harked back to industrial relations of the 1970s.
‘To not sort it out by February was negligent but to not have it done by now is incompetence,’ he said.
‘This has gone beyond an aviation issue. It’s making a laughing stock of Guernsey outside the island and damaging its reputation on a wider stage.’
He said passenger arrivals were well down this year, on some routes by as much as 20%.
‘There’s hardly going to be a situation where there will be much confidence among people wishing to purchase a holiday in Guernsey when there is this degree of uncertainty,’ said Mr Taylor.
Airport director Colin Le Ray said yesterday that the dispute had not so far affected flights and this morning’s shift reported for duty at full strength.
‘We are monitoring the situation from shift to shift,’ he said.
A temporary agreement that firefighters would cover if a colleague fell ill ran out on Sunday.
Comment Page 28
Article posted on 12th May, 2009 - 11.30am
15 Article Comments
Money or Help from States of Guernsey ?? NO chance ….
They only think of failure when comes to important issue ,,,,,,,
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‘To not sort it out by February was negligent but to not have it done by now is incompetence,’
Pretty much sums it up.
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That’s a nice solution Flybe. I book and pay with you, but getting my money back in the event of problems is my problem ?
Sorry Flybe, there’s a simpler solution for me – I won’t be flying to Guernsey and therefore, I won’t be using Flybe, until this dispute is resolved.
And if this dispute is allowed to rumble on into the summer holidays, how many people will come from the mainland on holiday and risk using Guernsey airport ? Or do you think they might just avoid the hassle and go to Jersey instead ?
I’ve said it before on a previous post – it’s time for independent, binding arbitration. The alternative is damage to the island’s reputation and economy.
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Surely there’s an alternative for us all – fly Aurigny?
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Thats a typical Flybe reaction. Seems that with their falling passenger figures, excessive pricing for hold baggage and certianly not being a low cost airline (they always cost more to travel with compared to other carriers)they would do better to accomodate the passegers they have left. No, no they leave the passenger to do all the work. Lets hope States of Guernsey PR is better then Flybe’s. Flybe, your reputation is already in tatters.
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I am afraid that this dispute has already damaged Guernsey’s reputation. I holiday at Guernsey nearly every year and always fly. All the papers in the UK have had substantial advertising coverage about the fact that Guernsey is a great place to holiday this year because it has UK currency and not the Euro. Yeah – only great if you can get there!!!
My flights and hotel are booked again this year but I am becomingly increasingly concerned that my family and I are going to be stranded in the UK. This situation will seriously affect Guernsey’s tourist industry – what a complete waste of money those “Holiday in Guernsey” adverts were!
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Aldo, how will flying with Aurigny help if the airport is closed? Their ATR aircraft do require a lower level of firefighter cover, but last time this happened Flybe leased in a smaller aircraft and then another Firefighter fell sick and neither operator could operate.
What if Flybe had enough of all the nonsense and pulled out of the island, that would be truly bad news for the island. Plenty of people complain but personally I dont think Aurigny on their own could cope, and who knows who we might get instead, lets not forget the impecable safety record that Flybe have, what would happen if we got a “cowboy” operator in their place with old, noisy and unreliable aircraft?
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Tuch
At last sense being spoken – well done you!
Somewhere along the line a distraction has happened on this post? It went from the States of Guernsey ignoring the fact that they and they alone are damaging their reputation by not sorting out their airport and employee’s gripes TO Bert’s “thats a nice solution Flybe”?
How did that happen? Flybe, Aurigny, Blue Island and all other users of this airport are NOT at fault here and are actually the victims. When an elected body causes the airport to close due to inpetitude then its the airlines, passengers and tourists who suffer.
If this was to continue, and lets face it, it probably will, I would not blame any airline never mind Flybe for pulling out and as the States own Aurigny that’s all that would be left!
This cannot continue, no airline in the current financial climate can carry the cost of the States causing the airport to close without warning therefore they should pick up the costs, not the airlines or the passengers.
New States Tourism slogan:?
Welcome to Guernsey but you cannot leave! Unless we says so! – Rediculous!
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Sack them and get men or women who will do the job thay are being paid to do or in this case not doing !!!
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Aldo,good luck flying with Aurigny when the Airport is closed!
Louise Hamilton, where do you get your information from?Falling passenger figures,if at all is economical problem and very little to do with Flybe’s reputation.As for always being more expensive don’t be like an ostrich.
Maybe if Aurigny charged for baggage etc. they would not make a loss of a £1000000 a year.BTW when you travel with them you have already paid it via your tax bill!
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The Firefighting dispute is reminiscent of when the Stevedores held the harbour to ransom. Definitely not the fault of Flybe this one. And, in this case, FB have a valid point.
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DA’DO:
Firstly, if it was that easy to sack us and employ new people I am sure the States would have done it. You need to find people suitable for the job who meet the criteria and the last couple have years have proved that there are very few people that do meet it and actually want the job.
Secondly, We are doing the job. That is why the Airport is running smoothly, due to the continued goodwill of the Firefighters to carry on providing cover and be on call for no payment. This is the exact same contract/agreement we have been working to since 1990. Nobody had a problem with it then. We highlight the potential problems that have always been there and say that something needs to be sorted and we get the flack for it. Cheers.
NOTOBLACKMAIL: There is no dispute. For the second time now Industrial Disputes have said we are not in dispute.
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We are going around in circles on various threads!
Are the Airport Firemen in dispute? It appears not – they are working to their contract which does not require them to cover all and every absence of another member of staff – usually for training and annual leave cover rather than sickness.
What can be done about it? Change their contracts and implement some kind of on-call system OR provide enough staff so that they can cover for each other and STOP relying on the goodwill of the staff to be available any time to work extra shifts.
I personally think it would probably be more cost effective to have an on-call system as having an extra fireman or two would probably cost more in salary, pension, social insurance contributions etc and they would be often be surplus to requirements.
Why wasn’t it an issue before? Apparently because there was not such a high turnover of staff .Why can’t PSRC see that?
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An absolute farce in this day and age.
The damage the Island is getting will now take years to mend.
How can a States owned Airline leave residents stranded in Gatwick without helping them out, when the problem lies with the States run Firefighters not getting the basic cover they need.
We are being held hostage by an undemocratic Goverment and you should be ashamed of yourselves to represent this Island.
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My problem is that I do not know what the problem is from both sides points of view. The Remuneration Committee is secretive and the Union spokesmsn unintelligable. How is an old Donkey with defective eyesight and poor hearing to comment. Plenty of young Donkeys seem to know what the problem is but nowhere has this old Donkey seen it written down. Cue Deputy Gollop perhaps!
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