The UK regional carrier announces an agreement that focuses on its base at Southampton Airport
Humberside Airport-based airline Eastern Airways is set to enter a codeshare partnership with Guernsey flag carrier Aurigny Air Services.
The agreement – which is expected to boost connectivity to the Channel Islands – will be focused on the airline’s hub at Southampton Airport, from which it operates services to Belfast City, Manchester, Leeds/Bradford, Teesside, Aberdeen and, in the new year, Newcastle and Dublin.
Both operators are currently aligning their booking systems by working with the developers of Worldwide by easyJet, to allow a seamless single point of reservation for each other’s services to or from Guernsey.
Tony Burgess, managing director, Eastern Airways, said: “We are excited to commence this partnership with our friends at Aurigny, which will allow us to and collectively provide greater connectivity focussed initially on our Southampton Airport hub. This will open up a wide array of connections throughout the UK and the Channel Islands to all of our customers.”
Malcolm Coupar, the commercial director at Aurigny, added: “This is great news for our customers as it is often a challenge in small market jurisdictions to offer the regional connectivity desired by all as demand does not justify direct flights. By teaming up with Eastern we are able to provide our customers with more regional choice out of Southampton.”
As COVID-19 restrictions remain, services will continue to have extensive cleaning measures on-board and throughout all aspects of each airport. A full anti-bacterial wipe down of all touchpoints between every flight operated and a comprehensive aircraft night-stop sanitisation remains in-place.
The 23-year-old independent operator – which was a former franchise partner of Flybe – moved quickly to return to its own booking system after the Exeter-based carrier went into administration in March.
