En Voyage - Issue #8

En Voyage
1968
SERVING THE
BAILIWICK
1968 – the year it all began.
The year that Aurigny took
to the air for the very first time
in the Channel Islands.
1st March to be precise. The
passengers on board paid the first
£2 fares for their trip between
Alderney and Guernsey.
Aurigny started by making a
few trips a day, nine passengers
a trip, with the initial aim of
recouping the £20,000 cost
of their first Islander aircraft.
Business took off, and the
company obtained two more
aircraft in May 1968 when all
its inter-island flights began.
By the end of the first year,
45,989 passengers had taken
to the skies with the airline and
a fourth Islander was bought.
This was all made possible
thanks to Alderney’s late Sir Derrick
Bailey, the man who formed
Aurigny, having owned a small
charter company in the UK.
He had an Islander,
manufactured by Britten
Norman, which suited Alderney’s
needs and the company took
over the Guernsey-Alderney
route from British United
Airways Channel Islands.
From its humble beginnings, the
airline has grown its passenger
numbers and route network
considerably over the decades.
The introduction of the
much-loved Trislander aircraft –
which Aurigny introduced into
service first – came in 1971.
The company grabbed national
media headlines in 1977 for being
the first-ever airline to introduce
a No Smoking policy – a policy
that has now been followed by
every carrier around the world.
By 1980 the airline had been
sold to a consortium led by the
Exxtor Group Ltd, a shipping
and transport company, and
had reached the 2m. passenger
landmark. Four years later it hit
3m., by 1991 it was 5m. and at the
end of 2017 it stood at over 15.5m.
Its transition into a regional airline
came in 1999, when it operated
to Stansted and Amsterdam
using Saab 340 aircraft.
Another major milestone came
in 2002 when the airline’s website
Aurigny.com was launched,
featuring an online booking
facility for the very first time.
Then, just a year later, Aurigny
was acquired by the States of
Guernsey in a deal to safeguard
the future of several key air links,
including the lifeline Guernsey-
London Gatwick route.
As Aurigny celebrated its 40th
birthday in 2008, the airline
picked up its first of several
accolades from the consumer
magazine Which?, voted 4th best
short-haul airline. The airline has
since bettered that, by scooping
second place in 2015 and 2016.
2015 also saw Aurigny
recognised with the Silver Award
at the European Regions Airline
Association awards, and just a
year earlier, the airline’s flagship
Embraer 195 Jet operated its
first flight after being bought for
the Guernsey-Gatwick route.
Since then, the airline has
continued to develop its network
and the service it offers, picking
up accolades along the way.
As an airline, Aurigny is
incredibly proud to have served
the Bailiwick over the last five
decades and hopes to continue
for another 50 years!!
8 En Voyage | Aurigny’s Magazine