During the first decade of this century, two airlines competed on the most heavily used route from Guernsey, that to London Gatwick. During this period, Aurigny operated ATR 72 turboprop aircraft (72 seats) and flybe operated BAe 146 jet aircraft (70 to 128 passengers depending on variant). When in 2008 flybe disposed of their BAe 146 fleet, they initially replaced them with Embraer E195 jet aircraft which could not at that time operate into Guernsey because of the then-low strength of the runway. They therefore elected to operate the smaller Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft. Business leaders and deputies (elected members of the island parliament, the States of Guernsey) argued for and against an extension of the runway from its current length of 1463m (4,800 ft). Following several years of debate it was announced on 2 October 2009 that Guernsey’s airport runway and apron would be extensively rebuilt at a then-estimated cost of £81 million. Although Guernsey is largely autonomous, it has to obey the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority regulations. The CAA insisted that extended runway end safety areas (RESAs) be introduced and that the then-existing hump in the runway be removed. The physical runway length was therefore to be increased by 120m at the western end. However, this extension is designated as an RESA. The significance of having only a 1463m runway is that even relatively small commercial jet aircraft in the Airbus A320 family or Boeing 737 Classic families cannot operate from Guernsey at maximum take-off weight; more recent and larger Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft cannot effectively operate from Guernsey at all. The reason is that in the early years, many aircraft had more than two engines generally. While in the '60s and '70s the engines were weaker than today, alongside them adding weight and complexity, sometimes that was negated as the amount of thrust per tonne was increased, which meant that sometimes fitting three or four engines allowed for shorter take-off runs than are possible today. However, today aircraft generally only utilise two engines for the sake of fuel efficiency, which means that although there is less weight to deal with, there is also less thrust, which means that a longer runway is required for take-off than would be otherwise needed with a three or four-engine aircraft.