State-owned airlines can be counted upon to care about the people they serve even if they are making a loss, claims the chief executive of Guernsey’s Aurigny.

Mark Darby said small island communities could not take it for granted that private airlines want to serve their needs adding: ’We will always want to do the best thing in the interests of the island we serve.’

He also claimed private airlines had no ’skin in the game’ to take risks in the interests of the community by providing regular services to destinations.

He said: ’As islands we have similar interests and outlook and understand the challenges and opportunities we face.’

Mr Darby, who was making his first visit to the Isle of Man, was among the first visitors from Guernsey to arrive at Ronaldsway on Wednesday on a flight delayed by a technical hitch.

The initiative for a summer air bridge ’bubble’ offering two flights a week between Guernsey and the Isle of Man was agreed by each island government because both islands are Covid free with no social distancing in place.

Altogether, Aurigny expects to have sold almost 5,000 seats between the two islands between July 22 and September 13.

Mr Darby was on the inaugural flight along with his wife and mother-in-law and was using the visit to enjoy a brief holiday as well as having meetings which included a courtesy visit with members of the government on Friday.

Former Manx Airlines boss Terry Liddiard of Travel Watch has been lobbying for the idea of the island having its own state airline.

Mr Darby, who has known Mr Liddiard for a number of years, told Business News: ’I know a lot has been made about how much it costs and the risks and what have you.

’But I think as a small island community you cannot take for granted that airlines are going to be here and want to serve your needs. They will serve their needs first.

’They have got no skin in the game if they are out to make a profit and their only motivation is to put money into their operation.

(To have ’skin in the game’ is to have incurred risk, monetary or otherwise, by being involved in achieving a goal.)

’We can take a different view. We keep our fares at a modest level although some people will still complain about them, and we provide services that may not be economic to operate.

’We also provide connectivity.

’So from Guernsey we are serving about 10 different points. These include Manchester double daily, we do Gatwick six times a day and we do two or three flights a day to Southampton.

’We also serve a small sister island, Alderney, and have to use a specialist small aircraft for that route.

’But we are there for the island, our interest is the island. we are based in the island.

’We have weather-related problems such as fog, just like the Isle of Man, and I think it is very much an island thing.

’Our motivation is to get people home.’

Speaking to Business News as mist and rain swept in to the capital on the morning after his arrival, he said: ’Ask anyone in Guernsey who they trust to get people home at night.

’We understand the local weather and our interest is the island.’ It was revealed in June that Guernsey’s airline made losses of £9.7million in 2019. But Mr Darby claimed that figure was taken out of context because of a number of factors which included spending £3million a year as the direct cost of operating the ’expensive’ service to Alderney.

He claimed Flybe in its ’death throes’ had been ’distorting the market’ and were doing ’some very strange things’. He said: ’Their fares were at very low levels, unsustainably low levels, as was later proven when they went out of business’.

There was also the fact Aurigny, which employs around 300 people, re-equipped its fleet of aircraft - ’we have now probably got the youngest fleet of aircraft of any airline in Europe’.

Mr Darby who has more than four decades of experience in airline business stressed that these days ’the market is so fragile’ and he had not seen such a serious crisis facing the airline industry.

’Other airline are right on the edge. There is not one of them that you can say will definitely still be here in 12 months time except for us.

’We are backed by the States of Guernsey and they know they need us and that’s why very early on in this pandemic they committed to underwriting the business for the rest of the year to make sure that we are here.

’There was no point having an airline and then at the time you were most likely to need it you cut it adrift.’

Mr Darby said air services are ’key economic drivers’.

Among his meetings was a planned one with the Department for Enterprise which he described as ’very much a courtesy visit and obviously having got this far it will be good to see what may be possible in the future’.

He was excited about the air bridge between the two crown dependencies and pointed to the fact that they would play a part in helping the local economy. To illustrate this he said quite a few people on the first flight in to the island headed straight for the car hire desks to arrange vehicles to help them get about the island.

Mr Darby said he was pleased Aurigny could play its part in getting residents off their respective ’rocks’ for breaks.