Guernsey Airport

Guernsey Airport
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Code	IATA: GCI, ICAO: EGJB
	Bailiwick of Guernsey
Island	Guernsey
	Public
Operator	States of Guernsey
Location	49°0’0"N, 2°0’0"E
Website	[2]

Guernsey Airport (IATA: GCI, ICAO: EGJB) is the largest airport in the Bailiwick of Guernsey and is the only airport on the island of Guernsey. It is found in the parish of in the Forest, 2.5 nautical miles west southwest of St Peter Port.

History

The old terminal, 2003

The airport was officially opened on 5 May 1939. However, regular air services only commenced after the War and the occupation, in October 1946. By 1948, British European Airways were operating a daily service to Southampton using Douglas DC-3 aircraft. From 1951, Jersey Airlines flew BEA associate scheduled services to Southampton at weekends using Rapide eight-seat biplane airliners.

In 1960 there were four grass runways, with lengths ranging from 2,040 feet to 3,060 feet. 1960 also saw the construction of a new tarmacked runway of a length of 4,800 feet. In early 2000s alongside the work on the new terminal, the States of Guernsey Commerce and Employment department claimed an extension was necessary to allow use of larger aircraft such as the Boeing 737 Classic or Airbus A320 family for trans-European flights. In 2012, a set of four two-day closures under the Airport 2040 programme allowed contractors for the States of Guernsey to resurface the existing runway, extend runway end safety areas and also reconstruct parts of the concrete apron areas. Taxiways which connect the aprons to the runway were also resurfaced and realigned, whilst a new drainage system was implemented. New airfield ground lighting and navigational aids were also installed.

Aurigny Air Services has its head office on the airport property. At one time the Channel Islands subsidiary of British United Airways had its head office on the airport property.

Terminal facilities

The apron at Guernsey Airport

Work started on a new terminal building in 2002, which became operational on 19 April 2004. The old terminal was demolished in May 2004 to make space for additional aircraft stands and a passenger walkway from the new terminal. The new terminal was designed to be able to handle about 1.25 million passengers per year. In 2013, 886,396 passengers used the airport, with 49,403 aircraft movements.

Runway

There is a single runway, designated 09/27. Runway 09 is the eastbound take-off runway and runway 27 the westbound. The landing distance available LDA in both directions 09/27 is 1463m. The take-off runway available TORA on runway 09 is 1463m. However, on runway 27 only, the take-off runway available TORA is 1583m.

During the first decade of this century, two airlines competed on the most heavily-used route from Guernsey, that to London Gatwick Airport. During this period, Aurigny Air Services operated ATR 72 turboprop aircraft (74 seats) and flybe operated BAe 146 jet aircraft (70 to 128 passengers depending on variant). When in 2008 flybe disposed of their BAe 146 fleet, they initially replaced them with Embraer E195 jet aircraft which could not at that time operate into Guernsey because of the then low strength of the runway. They therefore elected to operate the smaller Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft. Business leaders and deputies (elected members of the island parliament, the States of Guernsey) argued for and against an extension of the runway from its current length of 4,800 feet. Following several years of debate it was announced on 2 October 2009 that Guernsey’s airport runway and apron would be extensively rebuilt at a then estimated cost of £81 million. Although Guernsey is largely autonomous, it has to obey the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority regulations. The CAA insisted that extended runway end safety areas (RESAs) be introduced and that the then-existing hump in the runway be removed. The physical runway length was therefore to be increased by 120m at the western end. However, this extension is designated as an RESA. The significance of having only a 1463m runway is that even relatively small commercial jet aircraft in the Airbus A320 family or Boeing 737 Classic families cannot operate from Guernsey at maximum take-off weight; more recent and larger Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft cannot effectively operate from Guernsey at all.

Sufficient progress on the rebuilding works had taken place to enable flybe to introduce an Embraer E175 jet (88 seats) on their then-existing Gatwick service from 31 March 2013. However, flybe then decided to dispose of their landing slots at London Gatwick and these were sold to EasyJet. EasyJet made a decision not to operate their Airbus A319 aircraft into Guernsey, leaving a reduction of four rotations per day between Guernsey and Gatwick.

The runway and apron rebuilding operations were completed during 2014. The States-owned Aurigny ordered an Embraer E195 which entered service during 2014; this 122 seater aircraft operates four rotations each day between Guernsey and Gatwick and these are supplemented by up to 2 ATR 72 rotations. By this means the loss of passenger capacity between Guernsey and Gatwick occasioned by the flybe withdrawal has been much reduced.

A small number of proponents continue to argue that the runway should be extended to 1700m to permit more profitable operation of the Airbus A320 family or Boeing 737 Classic family aircraft, as in the neighbouring island of Jersey.

General aviation

A large number of single and twin-engined light and business aircraft are based at the airport. These, and numerous visiting general aviation aircraft, are serviced by aviation engineering firms located in several hangars located at the southwest and southeast portions of the airport.

Handling agents

• Aurigny Aviation Services for Aurigny Air Services, Blue Islands, Air Berlin, InterSky and VLM Airlines|VLM/Cityjet
• Menzies Aviation for Flybe
• ASG (Aircraft Servicing Guernsey) for business/general aviation
• Aiglle for business/general aviation

Further reading

• Pinnegar, Edward (31 July 2010). A History of Aviation in Alderney. Amberley Publishing, Stroud. pp. 96. ISBN 978-1-84868-981-7. 

• Scott-Hill, Ian (1 April 1972). Channel Silver Wings: A Record of Service. Jersey Artists, Saint Martin, Jersey. pp. 62. ISBN 978-0-901845-08-5. 

• Doyle, Neville (1991). From Sea-Eagle to Flamingo: Channel Island Airlines, 1923–1939. Self Publishing. pp. 316. ISBN 978-1-85421-103-3. 

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Guernsey Airport)

• Guernsety Airport