Breaking even 'achievable' in Aurigny's future

It is still feasible for Aurigny to fulfil its mandate to break even in the years to come, according to the airline's chief commercial officer.

It follows figures in the latest States of Guernsey budget showing the airline is expected to make an even larger loss than expected this year.

Projections from earlier in the year suggested a £5m loss this year, which has risen to an estimated £9.7m with a further £5.7m loss in 2027.

Aurigny's Philip Saunders said: "I think breaking even is certainly achievable in the future, we simply have to be aware of the challenges that are there and act in a timely manner and that is what we are doing."

Saunders said oil prices have "risen incredibly severely", resulting in a 50% increase in Aurigny's fuel bill.

The airline said "uncertainty remains around future demand and fuel prices".

On top of that, Saunders said stepping in when Blue Islands collapsed incurred further costs to Aurigny, including an additional ATR, its crews and ground staff at Southampton Airport.

The new London-Heathrow service operated by British Airways has also been put down as a culprit for cost pressures.

Historically, London routes have accounted for about half of Aurigny's revenues.

The airline said: "The additional capacity, supported by contracted subsidies and preferential airport charges not available to Aurigny, has put sustained pressure on Aurigny's London revenues."

Saunders said "measures to actually control costs" have already been taken.

One of those measures he said, was simplifying its fleet, having moved from the "very expensive" Dornier aircraft to the Twin Otters on the Alderney services, which the airline said cost less to run and improved reliability.

Saunders said another was reducing capacity between April and June when demand was lower due to uncertainty caused by the US-Iran war.

The airline said "less reliance on leased-in aircraft" had also brought down costs.

In 2025 Aurigny spent £4.9m leasing aircraft, but said this year "improved reliability" had allowed it "to almost entirely stop hiring aircraft and crews on short-term ACMI (wet-lease) contracts" with the last of those occurring on 2 April.

Saunders said they were confident that would continue into the future and reduce costs going forward.

He added that challenges remained but with the measures they were taking, they could "move towards break even".

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