RUAG delays delivery of Do228NG to Aurigny until 2Q18

Aurigny, Blue Islands, Loganair ink tripartite p'ship

A new partnership between Scotland's Loganair, Guernsey's Aurigny Air Services, and Jersey's Blue Islands will boost UK regional connectivity in 2022, offering more travel connections across their networks, coordinated frequent flyer benefits, and stronger collective buying power.

Existing partnerships between Blue Islands and Aurigny, and Loganair and Blue Islands, will be strengthened, while a new partnership will be introduced that will see Loganair and Aurigny link their route networks, the airlines announced in a joint statement.

Guernsey, in particular, will benefit from a broader range of connections to the north of England, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, via Manchester Int'l, Bristol Int'l, and Birmingham Int'l, where the airlines’ networks meet.

Route links between Loganair and Blue Islands currently centred at Southampton and Manchester will be expanded. This will see new, one-stop, single-ticket connections, such as from Aberdeen Dyce to Jersey and Guernsey.

The airlines also plan to align their frequent flyer programmes enabling passengers to redeem benefits across all three carriers’ services.

Closer cooperation...

US's Silver Airways launches ATR72-500(F)s for Amazon ops

Silver Airways (3M, Fort Lauderdale Int'l) took delivery of its first five dedicated freighters, all ATR72-500(F)s, and began operations on behalf of Amazon.com on November 9, 2021.

The Floridian carrier, which has thus far focussed on regional passenger services in the United States and to the Bahamas, has added the following Avions de Transport Régional converted freighters:

• N919AZ (msn 853), a 12.7-year-old ex-Aurigny Air Services aircraft registered in the United States on July 8, 2021, owned by Amazon.com (and already sporting the logistic firm's Prime Air livery),
• N929AZ (msn 727), a 15.6-year-old ex-Air Corsica aircraft registered in the US on July 30, 2021, owned by ACIA Aero,
• N937AZ (msn 736), a 14.9-year-old ex-Air Caraibes aircraft registered in the US on September 7, 2021, also owned by ACIA,
• N947AZ (msn 682), an 18.6-year-old ex-MAP Linhas Aéreas aircraft registered in the US on October 22, 2021, owned by ATR Leasing, and
• N967AZ (msn 714), a 17-year-old ex-Mount Cook Airline...

Guernsey's Aurigny to start 2022 with clean balance sheet

Guernsey to recapitalise Aurigny to tune of $86.3mn

The island parliament of Guernsey has voted to write off the debts of its flag carrier Aurigny Air Services (GR, Guernsey), agreeing to spend GBP62.9 million pounds (USD86.3 million) recapitalising the company.

States of Guernsey, as the parliament and government of the British dependency of Guernsey are called, was asked to decide whether to inject GBP46.8 million (USD64.2 million) into the company and also to cover its 2021 losses, which are projected to be GBP16.1 million (USD22.1 million), a policy letter presented to members before the vote, seen by ch-aviation, revealed.

The plan - approved by 35 votes to one with two abstentions - foresees Aurigny becoming “an economic and social enabler more efficiently and more sustainably” and growing “financially self-sufficient as it recovers from the pandemic and indicates that it will start returning modest profits from 2023 onwards.” As previously reported, this partly entails ending the use of its Embraer and Dornier aircraft and simplifying its fleet in favour of Avions de Transport Régional turboprops.

Accumulated losses at the airline...