ONE of the greatest risks to the future of Aurigny is the new ownership model at Gatwick, the airline’s managing director has said.

Malcolm Hart said that the change of ownership at the London hub airport, which was bought by Global Infrastructure Partners from the British Airports Authority in December 2009, had seen Aurigny have to absorb 25% cost increases two years ago.

He had attempted to mitigate the potential risk by joining a joint steering group at Gatwick, which signs off on any return on capital expenditure made by the owners.

‘I decided to join the group two years ago for a couple of reasons,’ Mr Hart, pictured, told an Institute of Directors seminar on handling crisis.

‘I get myself in front of the CEO of Gatwick every month so that Aurigny is not an airline he knows nothing about, and so he’s got to look at me every month, and I hope it might make a difference to the way he thinks.’