Airport closure will ‘cut off’ tiny British island and leave workers ‘trapped’ in £24m project, warns pilot
CONCERNS have been raised over the temporary closure of a British Isle airport in a £24million scheme to rebuild its runway.
The charming British Isle of Guernsey has long been loved for trips, with flights between 40 minutes to an hour, but the future of its airport hangs in uncertainty.
Plans were in place to improve Alderney’s only airport – approved back in 2022 – but delays and climbing costs have put the development on pause.
The plans, due to start in 2024, were for the airport to have a £24million renovation to improve services and have more flights to and from the island; there are currently around seven flights to Alderney a day.
The makeover would extend the runway so it could welcome larger planes as well as modernise the 1960s terminal building.
Guernsey officials warned the airport may need to close for an “extended period” to complete the scheme in the shortest time – work could start in 2027.
Chris Blythe, Alderney resident and pilot and flying instructor, said he was concerned about the possibility of the airport closure leaving islanders “cut off”.
Sharing his worry, Blythe spoke on BBC News and said: “I think it’s going to be pretty brutal for the people on the island to be cut off and there’s been nothing said yet about how we would get to Guernsey or the mainland.”
He added: “From the point of view of the people who will be working on the project, there’s going to be a whole load of workers… who are going to be trapped on the island with us.”
Blythe insists passengers deserved to have a runway which was up to specification and met minimum legal requirements.
The proposed scheme involved the reconstruction of the asphalt runway, to meet minimum aerodrome design standards. Blythe believes this “was always going to be the only option”.
Blythe said: “The main runway in Alderney is not very good, in light aircraft it doesn’t really matter that much but for commercial aircraft it needs to be better than that.”
He added: “I think the previous proposal to extend it and put ATRs in was ludicrous and I think anybody who knew much about aviation probably came to that conclusion.”