Its actually quite sad. Ask most people in the Channel Islands who, or what Aurigny is, and they will tell you it is an airline. And if they happen to live on, or have regular connections with, Alderney, mentioning the name Aurigny will often provoke a heated discussion about the state of the lifeline inter-island and UK air services, which appear to have been let wither on the vine, while the Guernsey-government-owned company expands jet services between St Peter Port and London. Theres a feeling in Alderney that the needs of Guernsey finance moguls for connections to the City) are always taking precedence over the basic needs of ordinary Alderney citizens including the companys recent experimenting with services to City Airport. But Aurigny is not an airline. The airlines name is actually Aurigny Air Services. Aurigny is our islands name, in the original language of its inhabitants (which was called Aurignaise ). Aurigny and Alderney are just two words for the same thing. (Riduna is the same thing, in Latin). Aurigny Air Services was named after the Island when it was founded in the 1960s, because originally it provided inter-island and UK service to and from Alderney, for the benefit of the people of Alderney. It later merged with Guernsey Airlines, then subsequently moved its HQ to Guernsey, following nationalisation -- takeover in the early part of the century by the Guernsey Government. The rise of corporate branding, and the decline of Island French in the day-to-day lives of the Bailiwicks inhabitants mean that a lot of people dont even seem to know that Aurigny means Alderney For example: a couple of years ago someone sent a letter to me addressed, from France, addressed in French to : M. ROBERTS Nigel, Boîte Postale 65, Aurigny, GY9 3JZ, Isles Anglo-Normandes. It was severely delayed. But not because it was addressed in French. After all, French is the official language of the international postal service). But because someone in the sorting office thought it should be delivered to the offices of the airline, and not to the P O Box it was addressed to. Referring to the airline company as Aurigny is a bit like referring to BA simply as British. Aurigny (Air Services) does seem to have lost its way where Alderney is concerned. The current CEO in Guernsey, Mark Darby, is a good guy, who seems genuinely to want the best for all his customers, including Alderney. But Mr Darby has a major uphill struggle: not only against aging tech (that is, our beloved Trislanders who, despite the affection we all hold for them should have been replaced by Dorniers or similar 15 years ago) but also a studied indifference from the average man on the Forêt omnibus to the well-being of our Island, which some in Guernsey have liked to refer to in the past as the Cinderella of the Islands. (In the spirit of inter-island amity I shant repeat the well known rejoinder of Alderneys first elected President, Toby Herivel here). Its time we followed the example of other minorities. We should reclaim our name. Whenever the Guernsey press refer simply to Aurigny we should correct them: its Aurigny Air Services Even more, given the shocking state of the current service provided to Alderney by the Guernsey government airline, we should now demand it remove our name from its brand. Tell the truth. Its no longer Alderney Air Services and hasnt been for over a decade Its become Guernseys air service.. Its about time the companys Board and the Chief Minister owned up to this, and re-branded it. Why not name it .. oh let me think . . Air Guernesey ?
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 16:18:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015