FLYBE HAS CALLED for an independent inquiry into the sale - without an open bidding process - of Aurigny Air Services to rival airline Blue Islands.
Flybe has been trying to buy Aurigny for the past seven years, but its overtures have been repeatedly rejected by the States of Guernsey, which owns the airline and its sister aircraft maintenance and repair company. Blue Islands, which is owned by the Healthspan Group, is also based on Guernsey, while Flybe is headquartered on the mainland, in Exeter.
In its statement calling for the inquiry, the airline protested: "Flybe has the longest unbroken record of service of any airline to Guernsey, has provided lifeline routes to and from the island in good economic times and bad, without recourse to a single penny of public subsidy, and is very disappointed that it has not been invited to make an offer for Aurigny.
"Flybe is extremely concerned that the proposed deal between Blue Islands and Aurigny will result in yet more taxpayers' money being wasted on clearing debts and writing off loans."
The Aurigny sale is all the more galling because Flybe has announced it is to reinstate jet services between Guernsey and Gatwick. The carrier has brought forward to spring 2011 the delivery of the first of its 35 new 88-seat Embraer-175 jet aircraft, which has been earmarked for the Channel Island route.