Guernsey's airline says its choice of ATR 72-600 aircraft means they're paying less for fuel per passenger mile than an equivalent journey by the E195 jet.

Aurigny bought its three ATR 72-600 aircraft from new just before the pandemic but it's been running ATRs since it became a regional airline in the early 2000s.

Currently, they're flying alongside the E195 jet which has returned to service and is again on the Guernsey Gatwick route. Aurigny's said it will use it for the first quarter of this year.

But the airline plans to sell the 'aircraft to enjoy the economic benefits of fleet commonality like engineering and spares savings, pilot training savings and the ability to swap aircraft on routes without leaving anyone stranded because of seat capacity issues.

Aurigny says its ATRs use 36% less fuel per passenger than the jet on the 160 mile trip between Guernsey and Gatwick. Airlines have to a pay a pollution charge at Gatwick, and Aurigny says its ATRs work out cheaper.

An emissions charge of £4.86 per kg of NOx – Nitrogen Oxide - applies to all aircraft weighing more than 8,618 kilograms. An empty ATR 72-600 weighs approximately 13,000kg compared to 28,000 kilograms for an Embraer jet.

Aurigny's CEO Nico Bezuidenhout says ATRs make economic and environmental sense:

“ATR aircraft emit around 45% less carbon dioxide than regional jets as they are more suited to operate short-haul routes, such as those we offer between Guernsey and destinations within the UK and Europe. 

“Paying less in emissions charges to Gatwick Airport is also a benefit as we move forward with improving Aurigny’s reliability and service offering while considerably lowering our carbon footprint.”