Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Guernsey Airport (ICAO: EGJB, IATA: GCI) is the principal airport of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, sited in the parish of Forest a short distance southwest of St Peter Port. It is a busy commercial field, home to Aurigny, with a single hard-surfaced, ILS-equipped runway that also welcomes general and business aviation.
Guernsey Airport serves as the main gateway to the Bailiwick of Guernsey and is the largest airport in the Bailiwick. It sits in the parish of Forest and is the home base of Aurigny, the States-owned airline, while also handling British Airways and general aviation traffic. For a simulator pilot, it offers an interesting Channel Islands destination: a single instrument-equipped runway set on a plateau above the sea, with an airfield history stretching back to before the Second World War.
The airport lies in the parish of Forest, Guernsey, about 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) southwest of St Peter Port. It is a controlled aerodrome with its own approach, tower and ground services, reflecting its status as an international airport handling scheduled and charter traffic between Guernsey and destinations in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
The airport has a single physical runway, 09/27, of hard construction and lit for night operations, equipped with an ILS. Runway 09 has a length of 5183 ft and runway 27 a length of 4800 ft, the asymmetry reflecting differing declared distances at each threshold. Field elevation is 318 ft.
Guernsey provides a full range of air traffic services: ATIS on 109.4 MHz, Approach on 128.65 MHz, Tower on 119.95 MHz and Ground on 121.8 MHz. The runway is equipped with an ILS, supporting instrument approaches into the airport.
The airport sits in the Forest parish on the southern part of the island, with St Peter Port, the island's capital, lying some 2.5 nautical miles to the northeast, providing a useful reference point when approaching from over the sea.
Guernsey Airport was officially opened on 5 May 1939, replacing an earlier airfield at L'Eree, though regular air services did not begin until October 1946. By 1948 BEA was flying a daily Douglas DC-3 service to Southampton, and from 1951 Jersey Airlines operated associate services to Southampton at weekends using de Havilland Rapide biplanes. In 1960 the airport still had four grass runways, ranging from 2,040 ft to 3,060 ft in length, but that year also saw the construction of a new tarmac runway of 4,800 ft, the basis of today's single runway. A new terminal building was built from 2002 and became operational on 19 April 2004, replacing the earlier terminal, which was demolished shortly afterwards. From 2009 the airport underwent a major runway and apron rebuilding programme, prompted by UK Civil Aviation Authority requirements for extended runway end safety areas and the removal of a hump in the runway profile; a series of two-day closures under the Airport 2040 programme took place in 2012 to resurface the runway, rebuild taxiways, install new airfield ground lighting and navigational aids, and improve drainage, with the works completed during 2014.
Guernsey Airport today is the hub for Aurigny and is also served by British Airways, handling scheduled and charter flights to the United Kingdom and seasonal European destinations. Ground handling for airline traffic is provided by Aurigny Aviation Services, while general and business aviation are handled by dedicated FBOs at the field, which actively welcomes visiting private and business aircraft.
