Alderney late 300s, at above the island's only natural harbour. The etymology of the island's name is obscure. It is known in Latin as "Riduna" but as with the names of all the Channel Islands in the Roman period there is a degree of confusion. "Riduna" may be the original name of Tatihou, while Alderney is conjectured to be identified with "Sarnia". "Alderney"/"Aurigny" is variously supposed to be a Germanic or Celtic name. It may be a corruption of "Adreni" or "Alrene", which is probably derived from an Old Norse word meaning "island near the coast". Alternatively it may derive from
Aurigny It has been rated the world's best short-haul airline in more recent surveys. March 2009 saw Aurigny announce that it was to operate a Jersey – London Stansted route, whilst restarting the Guernsey and East Midlands link. Daily flights commenced from 1 May 2009. The frequency of flights from Guernsey – London Gatwick was increased from four to five daily return flights that day. In August 2009, Aurigny announced that it would be operating winter flights to Grenoble using its ATR 72-500 aircraft. The flights ran from 26 December 2009 to midway through February 2010. This was repeated for the