Remembering Aurigny’s Largest Jet: Guernsey to Gatwick on the Embraer 195
You can read all of the background and booking information for this trip in my report detailing my Dornier 228 rides from Southampton to Guernsey via Alderney here.
Check-In
Exactly a week before departure, I received an email informing me that check-in for the flight was open. Having already pre-selected a seat during the booking process, I was in no major rush to check-in. However, seeing no reason to check-in online, several days before departure, I pressed on this link. Upon entering my booking reference and surname, I was then taken to the usual screen regarding prohibited items. After agreeing not to transport such goods, I was soon presented with my boarding pass for the short flight up to Gatwick.
The Journey
After touching down from Alderney onboard a rare Dornier 228, I spent my night on Guernsey in the Bailiwick’s capital, Saint Peter Port. With Guernsey Airport sitting less than five kilometres to the southwest of the town, reaching the airport would not be difficult or costly. For those who lack a car and don’t fancy a long and mostly uphill walk out of town, buses run at every half hour or so between various points across Saint Peter Port and the airport. Following a hearty breakfast, I checked out of the homely and quirky, if not slightly dated Grange Lodge Hotel at 0930 and descended the narrow streets towards Saint Peter Port’s port. Being a Sunday morning, the town was unsurprisingly quiet with most cafés, restaurants and shops either shut or being opened up in preparation for a new day of trade.
Having heaps of time before my afternoon flight to London, and given the glorious early autumn weather, I was in no rush and spent an hour leisurely exploring the quiet streets and harbour before making my way to the town’s main bus stop. Once there, a modern bus bound for L’Erée via the airport could be seen waiting for its next load of passengers. Being the first to board, I was given a friendly welcome by the driver and paid the impressively cheap £1 fare by contactless card. After two fellow passengers boarded, the bus door closed and we trundled up the hill away from the harbour. With no passengers wanting to embark or disembark during the route’s first few stops, the bus managed to make the entire journey along the island’s narrow streets to the airport without stopping at any stops.
Following my cheap and pleasant journey, I arrived at the airport around fifteen minutes after leaving the centre of Saint Peter Port. Seeing as I had plenty of time on my hands before my flight’s scheduled departure time of 1440, I decided to head down to the Aero Club in the hope that the road there would offer a good view of the eclectic collection of private aircraft and the visiting coastguard helicopter parked away from the terminal. However, after twenty minutes or so of exploring, it appeared that getting any decent view of these would be near impossible and so defeated, I returned to the terminal.
With Guernsey Airport’s current terminal having opened its doors in 2004, from the outside this still looks fresh and modern seventeen years later – with large windows allowing natural light to pour into the landside area. At that time, this area was almost empty, with a total of just two other passengers – both of whom were checking in for Aurigy’s ATR 72 operated service to East Midlands. Looking around, a total of twelve check-in and ticketing desks could be spotted, and unsurprisingly most of these were decked out in the hometown airline’s distinctive yellow branding, although three of these were dedicated to Blue Islands’ services to Jersey. Hoping to obtain a paper boarding pass, I made my way over to one of the desks and after handing over my driving licence, I was soon handed a receipt-style boarding pass. Unlike all of the Aurigny staff that I had encountered the previous day, this agent seemed to be a little more lukewarm in their interactions, however given the beaming sunshine outside, plus the fact that it was a Sunday, their slight unenthusiasm was easily forgivable. Above the main check-in hall sits the Bailiwick Bar and Kitchen, the only real eatery in the airport’s landside area. I later discovered that this offers panoramic views of the airfield, although unaware of this, once I had my boarding pass I made a beeline for security.
After making the very short walk to the security area, I decanted my things into various trays and passed through the metal detector whilst my possessions journeyed through the x-ray machine. Being the only passenger at security at that time, and with an army of G4S staff on hand to assist, I managed to make it through to the airside area within about a minute, emerging in the terminal’s small duty-free shop. This featured the usual selection of goods, alongside a small collection of local products and souvenirs. Not needing to make any purchases, I passed through this and continued into the small waiting area. This consists of a hall with plenty of benches, a branch of WHSmith and a café-bar. Whilst I found this part of the terminal to be modern, pleasant and clean, it can hardly be described as an area designed for long waits and I would not advise passengers to turn up there with hours to go until their flight’s departure.
Looking at the departure boards, a total of seventeen scheduled flights would be commencing their journey from Guernsey Airport that day, with these bound for Alderney, Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Exeter, Jersey, London Gatwick, Manchester and Southampton. With the exception of Blue Islands’ service to Jersey, all would be operated by Aurigny, who enjoy somewhat of a monopoly on services from the airport. Fancying a coffee, I made my way over to the café and purchased a regular cappuccino. Setting me back £3.20, this was roughly equal in price to most chain coffee shops in the UK and thus left me with nothing to complain about.
Seeing as the waiting area sits on the ground floor of the terminal, whilst views of the action outside from the departures hall are possible, these are not fantastic and any decent photography may serve to be near impossible. Taking a seat near the window, as I waited I worked away on my laptop and watched as the occasional aircraft taxied past. These included several Aurigny aircraft, as well as a multitude of light aircraft and the Coastguard AW189 helicopter returning to its base at Lee-on-Solent on the south coast of the UK. More luxurious movements included an Isle of Man registered Cessna 525B CJ3 and a larger NetJets operated Cessna 560XLS Citation Excel arriving from Cannes, later followed by a private AW109 helicopter. The final corporate aircraft movement of my stay took the form of a Pilatus PC-24 arriving from Leeds East Airport, previously known as RAF Church Fenton. As time passed, East Midlands and Jersey-bound passengers began to filter into the airside area of the terminal, although this was far from full for the duration of my stay.
With the number of Embraer 195 aircraft in Aurigny’s fleet standing at a grand total of one, it was not difficult to decipher which of the airline’s aircraft would be operating that afternoon’s service up to London. As expected, this took the form of the appropriately registered Embraer 195 G-NSEY. This touched down on the island at 1238 following a charter service from Palma de Mallorca before making its way over to Stand 3, directly outside the terminal.
Assembled at Embraer’s plant in São José dos Campos, this jet first took to the skies in June 2014. At the end of the month, the aircraft began its long journey across the Atlantic to Exeter, making two intermediate stops in Recife and Sal. Following some time on the ground, the aircraft headed south to its new home in Guernsey where it was soon pressed into commercial operations. Since then, the Embraer has primarily served Aurigny’s route between Guernsey and London, also making rare appearances at other airports both within and outside of Aurigny’s route network. Since entering service, according to the AvHerald the aircraft has suffered two notable incidents in August 2014 and then again in September 2015. Coincidentally, both events take the form of birdstrikes that occurred upon departure from Guernsey. Inside, Aurigny’s Embraer is complete with 122 Economy seats – a figure that seems to be slightly above average for Embraer 195 operators. In the week before my flight, the aircraft had undertaken a total of 39 flights, and covered at least 10,300 miles in the course of these. Whilst Aurigny’s Embraer can spend weeks simply shuttling between Guernsey and Gatwick, its operations during the week before my flight were somewhat more exciting. Aside from its usual route, the aircraft had been ferried up to Luton from where it operated a charter service to Istanbul, positioning directly back to Guernsey, in addition to the round trip from Guernsey to Palma de Mallorca the jet undertook just before my flight to London.
According to my boarding pass, boarding for the afternoon flight would commence twenty minutes before departure at 1420. However, at 1415, the sole Aurigny staff member manning the gate podium made an announcement thanking all for waiting and choosing to fly with Aurigny before inviting those in rows 1 to 8, and 26 and above to proceed forward for boarding. Several minutes later, all remaining passengers were invited to board and I soon had my boarding pass scanned before heading down the walkway and joining another queue. Fortunately, this moved along quickly and I soon made my way outside towards the waiting Embraer. That afternoon, boarding was undertaken through both the forward and rear doors; seeing as I was seated near the centre of the aircraft, I decided to head to the rear door.
After skirting around the wingtip and taking several photos, I joined a fast-moving queue on the airstairs before soon stepping into the rear galley. As soon as I stepped foot on the aircraft, I was given a friendly welcome by two members of the four-strong team of cabin crew. With nowhere to go other than left, I turned into the cabin and trundled down the aisle towards the centre of the aircraft. Onboard Aurigny’s sole Embraer, each seat is covered in dark blue (faux?) leather and is topped with either a red or blue (faux?) leather antimacassar. On the rear of these, a small advertisement for Sark’s Stocks Hotel could be seen. Upon arriving at Row 20, I took my seat, strapped myself in and settled down for the short journey to the mainland. As was to be expected given the apparent thinness of the seat, this was rather firm although the legroom was surprisingly fantastic for a regional jet. As one would hope, the aircraft appeared to be spotlessly clean and in good condition with only a few very minor marks and scratches dotted about. Turning to the seatback pocket, this contained a safety card, a copy of the SkySnacks buy-on-board menu and duty-free catalogue, as well as a logoless white sickbag. As with many airlines, Aurigny has suspended their inflight magazine, En-Voyage due to the pandemic.
By the time I had sat down, boarding was nearing its completion, with the very last passengers making their way onto the aircraft at 1433. That afternoon, the flight was approximately 75% full with most taking the form of solo passengers, and most, including myself, were able to enjoy the luxury of having no neighbour. At this time, an announcement was made requesting passengers to keep their masks on throughout the flight and advising all not to wipe down any surfaces as this may limit the effectiveness of the hospital-grade cleaner used to disinfect the cabin between flights. This was then followed by a speedy announcement from the Captain who advised that the flight up to Gatwick would take 33 minutes and gave a brief overview of the route and weather during the flight. Almost without a pause, the next in the series of announcements was performed – this consisting of a welcome from the Purser with all the usual content such as a welcome and a brief safety message regarding seatbelts before the crew took their positions in the aisles in preparation for the safety demonstration. This was conducted to a pre-recorded safety announcement.
At the scheduled departure time of 1440, the Embraer 195 was pushed back away from the stand and its two General Electric CF34-10E5A1 engines quietly powered up into life below with several puffs of white smoke. Four minutes later, the aircraft then commenced its journey towards the end of Runway 09. Whilst those on the left-hand side of the aircraft were gifted with views of the general aviation apron, sitting on the right-hand side, all I could see during this was the runway, the airport’s northern perimeter and a Cirrus SR20 holding before its flight back to the UK.
At 1447, ‘Ayline 606 Alpha’ taxied onto Runway 09 and came to a gentle halt. With the brakes applied, the engines spooled up before being released sending the Embraer jet flying down the runway. After some swaying, the nose was pointed skywards and we rocketed upwards into the cloudy skies, soon crossing over the perimeter fence and leaving Guernsey Airport behind. Rising up over several villages around the airport and Saint Peter Port, the Embraer climbed into the clouds no more than a minute after taking to the skies. A very short while later, a small gap in the clouds revealed Jerbourg Point, indicating our departure from the skies over Guernsey. From there the aircraft turned northwards and once free of the clouds, the crew were released from their seats and soon got to work on the duty-free service. This was followed by an announcement from the Purser requesting that passengers remain seated when possible and advising on the location of the toilet at the rear of the aircraft.
As the aircraft climbed through 10,000 feet just to the southwest of Alderney, the seatbelt signs were switched off were extinguished as I would otherwise not get the opportunity to do so, I decided to pay a visit to the onboard facilities. Located in the corner of the rear galley, this was unsurprisingly compact, however, this was clean and well-stocked with everything one would expect to find in an aircraft lavatory. Furthermore, it did appear to be in a relatively good condition with few marks or scratches, although this was perhaps to be expected given the short hops the aircraft undertakes between London and Guernsey, and its presumably infrequent usage.
By the time I returned to my seat, the buy-on-board service commenced although few passengers opted to make a purchase and the crew were able to sail through the cabin relatively rapidly. Given their network of mostly very short flights, compared to other airlines Aurigny’s menu is somewhat limited although it does feature all the usual light sweet and savoury, hot and cold, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, all of which came at the usual inflated inflight prices.
As the Captain had mentioned, the cruise was incredibly smooth and little could be seen of the English Channel or France’s Cotentin Peninsula thanks to the thick clouds. Around ten minutes after departure, the aircraft levelled off at its low cruising altitude of just 19,000 feet. This was maintained for all of five minutes and at 1703 the Embraer could be felt sinking downwards back towards the ground as the aircraft approached the southern tip of the Isle of Wight. At this time, the First Officer’s voice filled the cabin with an update on the flight’s progress, mentioning that we could expect to be on the ground ten to fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.
As we neared the South Coast coastline, a gap in the cloud revealed the Manhood Peninsula and Pagham Harbour, as well as the West Sussex seaside town of Bognor Regis – a popular haunt of holidaymakers in the days before low cost flights. The clouds then once again stole the view of Southern England as the seatbelt signs were reilluminated and the crew came around ensuring all was in place for our arrival into Gatwick. After flying past Worthing, the aircraft broke through the clouds at an altitude of 5,000 feet revealing the green fields and woods of the West Sussex countryside as the aircraft skirted around Horsham before lining up for an approach to Gatwick’s Runway 08R.
With the ground becoming clearer, the flaps were extended in stages followed by the gear and the aircraft rocked slightly as it approached Gatwick. At 1420, the aircraft floated down over the airport’s western perimeter fence as the sight of carparks replaced the green fields and moments later the Embraer firmly touched down on Runway 08R. True to the Captain’s word, the flight had lasted exactly 33 minutes! Given the length of Gatwick’s runway and perhaps seeking to minimise taxi time, the aircraft slowed rather gently before eventually taxying left off the runway. In the usual manner, the Purser performed a welcome speech and advised all to remain seated until the seat belt signs were switched off.
From the runway, the aircraft commenced what was to turn out to be a long taxi. After skirting around the satellite pier of the North Terminal, the aircraft came to a halt. Following a couple of minutes of waiting, the Captain’s voice filled the cabin who informed all that for ‘first time in ages’ Gatwick was busy and due to our early arrival, an EasyJet aircraft was occupying our allocated gate. This wait turned out to be longer than expected and fifteen minutes after the aircraft came to a halt, the apologetic captain made another announcement advising that the aircraft was now being pushed back and that the taxi would recommence shortly. From my seat, I was able to spot the culprit, an EasyJet Airbus A320 departing off to Glasgow.
As the aircraft neared Stand 554, one engine spooled down and the aircraft came to a gentle stop at 1540. As soon as the seatbelt signs were switched off, a good number of passengers stood up and outside I managed to catch a glimpse of the attempts to connect the jetbridge to the aircraft – a task that eventually failed and caused a slight delay to our disembarkation. Five minutes after arriving on stand, an announcement was made advising that disembarkation would be undertaken through the rear door only and soon enough I found myself thanking the friendly crew and heading down the steps. After taking some final snaps of the Embraer, I headed up into the very 1990s-esque terminal and followed signs towards arrivals. Arriving at the Common Travel Area gates, once up in the terminal I briefly passed through the mixed arrivals-departures area before heading along a long corridor to the baggage claim area. With no hold luggage, I exited into the North Terminal’s compact landside arrivals area before beginning my slow journey back to London.
Conclusion
Flying Aurigny’s Embraer was a far more ‘normal’ experience than their Dornier 228s, however it was still an enjoyable flight. The aircraft’s interior was in tip-top condition, the crew were highly friendly and I arrived in one piece and on time. Fortunately, I was provided with absolutely no reason not to fly with Aurigny again.
