Part 3 - Guernsey to Southampton

At 1630, I went along to the Blue Islands check in desk and picked up my boarding pass for seat 15A. I have covered Guernsey airport in a previous report, so won’t do so again.




At this time in the evening, the terminal was quite busy, although security didn’t take long. I bought a bottle of still water and settled down in the waiting area with my book, the information screens said that boarding would commence at 1805.

There were a few flights departing during this time; to Manchester, London Gatwick and London City and all operated by Aurigny. At around 1700, there was a boarding call for the flight to Alderney, I guess that they must have fixed the issue with the Dornier.

A little before 1800 hours, boarding commenced for flight SI 3342 to Southampton, boarding the ATR is always via the rear stairs and so it’s by row numbers. A short walk across the ramp and onto G-ISLN, a 15 year old ATR72-500 that has been with Blue Islands since February 2019.









Typical legroom for an ATR




A look at the safety card






We pushed off stand on time and were airborne at 1829; a fairly full flight this evening but as it’s such a short flight, no on board service or duty free run. The fares on this airline from the mainland to Guernsey can be quite expensive and all you get is a seat, nothing else it would seem.



View from seat 15A


Less than 20 minutes after take off and we are on approach to runway 02 at Southampton; a good view of the docks all lit up at night and all the Christmas decorations and lights in the streets and adorning the outsides of houses before crossing the M27 motorway (freeway) which runs just south of the runway and then the most positive arrival I’ve experienced in a long time on a flight. A short taxi onto the stand and after shut down, the door is quickly opened and we get to walk across the ramp to the pathway into arrivals.



On stand at Southampton



Walking into arrivals


As I walked towards the terminal, I spotted something familiar lurking in a corner of the ramp….


What’s this hiding in a corner?


Looks like Aurigny engineering department managed to fix the anti ice problem and the Dornier was able to complete the daily schedule.

Its just a short walk from aircraft to arrivals and on into the terminal building; one of the benefits of flying from small, regional airports.



Around 10 minutes after landing and I’m at my car in the car park ready for the drive home.

In conclusion, not the day that I had planned with the diversion to Guernsey and the extra flight but the Dornier was a lot of fun and I’ve not flown with Blue Islands before, so that was a new airline experience (airline number 64 for me).

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this report; always pleased to hear feedback.

My other trip reports:

Day trip to Guernsey on Aurigny ATR72

Köln/Bonn with Eurowings and riding the Schwebebahn