New Emirates and Aurigny partnership despite being one aircraft short

Islanders can now book flights through the Emirates website from Guernsey, making long-haul travel easier, even though Aurigny has temporarily removed an aircraft.

Emirates is the world's largest airline, serving 140 destinations worldwide on six continents.

The airline makes 133 weekly flights from eight Gateways in the UK.

Aurigny's new partnerships mean islanders can book flights globally through the Emirates website.

It means there will be no need for separate itineraries, and luggage will be automatically moved between connecting flights.

Adnan Kazim, Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer at Emirates, says they are proud to be working with Aurigny to provide a 'more seamless' booking experience for the people of Guernsey.

"No matter where they decide to travel with us, they’ll be able to enjoy our unparalleled experiences onboard and on-ground with a single ticket booking."

The partnership is taking off, despite Aurigny's recent announcement that certain flights between 19 May and 7 June will be rescheduled.

It is due to an incident where the tail of a plane hit the runway.

The airline says only 4% of customers booked over that period will be affected by this change in schedule.

Philip Smallwood, Chief Operations Officer at Aurigny, says they know the schedule changes are inconvenient, but will not knowingly risk jeopardising our communities' travel plans on the day of travel.

"We’re taking decisive action now, so that our operational capacity is more closely aligned to our flying programme and that our customers can continue to travel and book with confidence this summer.

"Though this is a necessary step to ensure a reliable service for all our customers, we recognise it will cause inconvenience for some, and we’re genuinely sorry for the disruption this may cause to them."

Of the partnership with Emirates Sudeep Ghai, Chief Commercial Officer at Aurigny, says it is an exciting step change in travel possibilities for Aurigny and the people of Guernsey.

"We are very pleased to provide access to Emirates’ exceptional network on Emirates.com.

"By providing connections over Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester, we will facilitate one-stop access to two-thirds of the world’s population within eight hours flying from Dubai."