Comments on: Flybe will assess reconditioned runway before taking jet decision

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:31:26 +0000

@Taxpayer – The subsidy works out at £20 a head based on £1.3m divided by 65,000.

By: Taxpayer

Taxpayer — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 23:38:57 +0000

Yes but there is no need to pay to keep aurigny afloat especially the rest of the network other than Gatwick it costs a fortune. Flybe and blue islands could op the routes perfectly well without any taxpayers money.

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By: Guern abroad

Guern abroad — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 17:25:22 +0000

Agree with Doug’s comment.
I support Aurigny and they have a very good frequent flyer reward scheme.
Look what happened to Guernsey Telecom when the States sold it and that was a essential Island service and Aurigny is no different, so I am very supportive of continuing to own it and am happy for the small States subsidy it requires to maintain it.
Being an Island it is important that essential services remain States owned. Let’s hope there are not future cockups like when Telecoms was sold off.

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By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 11:49:31 +0000

The railways in the UK receive a £4.6 Billion subsidy. If scaled down to the Bailiwick’s population would mean an equivalent subsidy for Aurigny of £4.6 million. It would be nice if Aurigny turned a profit but given the route network they offer us it’s still not a bad deal for the tax payer.

Of course if we all flew with them, where possible, instead of the competition that elusive break even point may move a bit closer

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By: GCI27

GCI27 — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 11:07:03 +0000

BA Cityflyer operate both the E170 and E190 from London City Airport to destinations that are much further than Guernsey to Gatwick.
Also the take off distance available at City is about 250 metres LESS than Guernsey.

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By: coco

coco — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:06:26 +0000

FlyBe! MayBe!

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By: Scarlett

Scarlett — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:25:09 +0000

Says who…?

‘Needs’ and ‘wants’, often confused.

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By: non-hobbit

non-hobbit — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:41:25 +0000

Yes.Ali.but.the.full.planes.couldn’t.take.off.from.our.runway.because.it’s.not.long.enough Duh!

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By: Monster Beats By Dre

Monster Beats By Dre — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:07:04 +0000

the U.S. financial industry’s workforce is at a low not seen since January 1999, according to U.S. government data. The industry’s headcount is down 9 percent since a peak of 8.35 million in late 2006.Workers are bracing for further cuts as banks eke out profits from less revenue.

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By: Plane Spotter

Plane Spotter — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:48:04 +0000

They don’t land/take off with a full payload though, which was kind of my point.

And, Gilthead, the runway isn’t being extended, only improved. And yes, Easyjet does have mostly A319s, but it also has A320s, B757s and B737s. It doesn’t have any Joeys though so don’t get your hopes up of having an Easyjet service any time soon.

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By: Ali M

Ali M — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:09:57 +0000

Easyjet normally services to Europe out of its UK hubs, therefore, I could see it working if they were to offer their services to say Malaga, etc esp at their cheap prices esp in teh summer. They would fill the seats. They could even do a stop over up to manchester as I note they fly over the channel islands anyway…

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By: Taxpayer

Taxpayer — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:48:32 +0000

Aurigny already is unacceptably expensive to the states!

Think what HSSD could do with the 1.35Million lost by aurigny this last year.
Worst of all aurigny are carrying more passengers than ever and yet they still lose money…it has to stop!

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By: non-hobbit

non-hobbit — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:17:05 +0000

Can we put this recurring fantasy about Ryanair to bed once and for all?

Ryanair are standardised on Boeing 737 800-series, using a lean burn engine. They’ve done this because it’s a lot cheaper to have one plane type in terms of maintenance. These need 2000 metres of runway for safe operation, which is way beyond what Guernsey has available. The Airbus 319/320 ( easyjet option) can land on the length we have, but can only take off again with a reduced payload ( which means flying a two thirds full plane only, thereby losing money).

Add to this the fact that the low cost operators base their routing decisions on what kind of catchment area they have for passengers at BOTH ENDS of a route. Arguably, there are plenty of potential Guernsey visitors on the London area , but Guernsey, with a 60,000 population is going to struggle to fill 180 seats goping the other way especially in lower season months. With planes costing what they do, it’s not just about whether the airlines could break even on the route, it’s about whether the same plane could make them more money if it was flying East Midlands – Perpignan, or Leeds – Strabourg or whatever instead.

That said, if those in power had decided to lengthen the runway whilst doing this work, it could have increased the potential options. If one day Flybe decide for commercial or political reasons that they don’t want to fly to Guernsey any more ( and they did this to Norwich), and Derek decides to stop playing at airlines, or the cost of Aurigny becomes unacceptably high to the States, a longer runway would at least have widened the potential number of operators to the island. In any of the above scenarios, Guernsey might have ended up being grateful for, say, four 737 or airbus flights a day into Gatwick rather than multiple turbo-prop flights, but with the runway stuck at its present length, that’s not an option.

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By: CI Flyer

CI Flyer — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:33:59 +0000

Like many have already said, both Easyjet and Ryanair operate a model where they make profit on a high load factor, ie, filling the aircraft. Those wishing the competition of Easyjet may regret it in the long term. Look at the Isle of Man, Easyjet operate a once daily service, which no doubt is normally considerably less than Flybe, because one, they can afford to undercut and also because they need to a high load factor to make money. This is killing the load factor on the Flybe IOM-LGW service, inevitably if Flybe pull off this route, what will the Isle of Man be left with? A once daily service to Gatwick with no interline connections or the BA CityFlyer London City route, great for business in the centre of London, but limited connections. This is what could happen in Guernsey should the big low cost carriers enter the market. There simply isn’t the demand, regardless of how low the fare is, to operate a 4-5 times daily service to Gatwick on a 156 seater Airbus from Guernsey, unless they took out both Aurigny and Flybe.

When it comes to Flybe and the Embraer in Guernsey, they will put one in if it makes commercial sense, if there are other Flybe routes to which the Embraer is better suited/ more profitable it will be on those and not GCI-LGW as is currently the case. Afterall, Gatwick is becoming more and more expensive to operate into for “regional” sized aircraft.

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By: Taxpayer

Taxpayer — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:02:15 +0000

Easy jet, Ryanair and the like will never come here because they need to fill their 150 to 180 seat aircraft to make money…something they will never be able to do on an island with such a small population base as ours….

As for operating a full 175. It should not be a problem on a 1463M runway even with a full load of passengers as the aircraft will not need to take a full load of fuel to get to Gatwick or Southampton…

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