'Global flight price hike may help island', Aurigny

Global fuel surcharges on the price of plane tickets could entice more people to Guernsey, according to airline Aurigny.

Operators across the globe, including Aurigny, have reduced their flight schedules and raised prices to counter the rising cost of fuel due to the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Chief commercial officer Paul Saunders said the airline's own £2 fuel surcharge was "very modest" in comparison and did not address "all of the cost issues" the airline faced.

He said he hoped Guernsey's lack of "geopolitical risk" and "slightly lower" surcharge costs could make the island attractive to UK holidaymakers.

Saunders said fuel prices were having "a big impact on the industry" and surcharges would have a "real impact on people's spending decisions".

"Right now, I think it's true to say that we are experiencing one of the periods of the most volatile oil markets there's ever been," he said.

"My hope at Aurigny is that I think quite a lot of holiday makers in the UK will reconsider if they want to go a long way from home, or if they perhaps rather enjoy comforts closer to home without geopolitical risk and perhaps slightly lower cost because of the fuel surcharges."

Saunders said "60% of all airlines around the world" had introduced some form of fuel surcharge by the end of March.

"If you look at the situation for Aurigny here in the Channel Islands, thousands of miles from the conflict, the fuel price has actually gone up by 121% at the end of March 2026 compared to just two months ago in January," he said.

"So we've been very conservative. It certainly doesn't address all of the cost issues at the moment, but it is a help."

He said the £2 surcharge would be reviewed regularly but it could also "potentially go up".

"If the situation becomes much more stable, which I'm sure we all hope, then we would review whether we take it away again but at the moment, it's very necessary," he said.

"The end of the crisis doesn't necessarily mean the end of high fuel prices for the airline but our whole mission is that we're very different to standard commercial airlines."

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