Leasing in planes and crew costs Aurigny £6.5M

Tuesday, 24 June 2025 11:45

Aurigny's testing year of fleet transition has cost the taxpayer millions in lease costs, the States' accounts reveal.

Wet leased aircraft are expensive. This is because the curious aviation term means that an airline is taking on and paying for the aircraft, its crew, maintenance and insurance.

Aurigny had to lease aircraft in many times last year and the loss to the company - which is entirely States' owned - was £6.5M, compared to a profit of £1.7M for 2023.

Historically Aurigny has mainly recorded annual losses and has had to be recapitalised twice in the past decade. This is when the States effectively writes off its debt.

The reasons for wet leasing are now well documented. There is a global shortage of ATR spares and pilots to the fly the aircraft type that Aurigny has transitioned to for its regional and european flights, and so it had to lease in for extended periods.

Aurigny says its use of wet lease planes has dropped by 80% in the first six months of 2025.

Despite the loss, the airline says it carried a record number of passengers in 2024, at 570,000, which is up 3% on the previous 12 months. It also says fares have reduced in real terms.

Roger Pratt is the airline's Chief Financial Officer:

"The short-term pressures we faced in 2024, particularly the need for significant wet leasing, are easing, and the decisions made last year -  including fleet simplification - will help secure longer-term financial stability.

“Whilst this was a challenging year that, in many ways, both Aurigny and its passengers will wish to put behind them, we connected more people than ever before, supported the island’s visitor economy, and protected essential lifeline routes."