Wightlink will resume its FastCat foot passenger sailings between Ryde Pier Head and Portsmouth Harbour on Thursday 29th April, it has been announced this morning (Friday).
It will be an hourly service with 2 catamarans operating on school holiday weekends and during the Isle of Wight Festival.
Furthermore, Wightlink’s car ferry summer timetable will come into effect on Monday 17th May 2021, in line with the next proposed Government easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions. Hotels, restaurants and attractions will open for business on both sides of the Solent from that date.
Sailings on the Fishbourne-Portsmouth car ferry route will be retimed to depart every 40 minutes between 05:00 and 19:40 to even out traffic flow and improve punctuality.
The Yarmouth-Lymington route will step up to hourly service, 7 days a week.
Enthusiasm for summer breaks on the Isle of Wight is already growing. Wightlink says bookings for the school holidays are looking healthy, especially for weekend sailings.
Keith Greenfield, Chief Executive of Wightlink, says:
“With summer on the horizon, we are delighted to step up our sailings and look forward to welcoming more Islanders and mainlanders who want to travel across the Solent.
Article continues below this advertisement “The Isle of Wight will be a popular choice for staycations and we will remain Covid-secure at all times with the highest standards of cleanliness. Mask wearing is still required. Our passenger numbers are currently reduced to allow social distancing but our ships and FastCats are spacious and comfortable with plenty of room. All of our usual cafés at ports and on board ferries are now open to serve refreshments but we ask customers to consume food and drink outdoors.”
“We know it’s been a long wait for our regular FastCat customers and we thank them for their patience. We are delighted that we can now reinstate our Portsmouth-Ryde service as demand for leisure travel starts to increase. Our ticket acceptance agreement with Hovertravel will continue until Friday 30 April, as previously announced.”
Hovertravel says that they will stop accepting Wightlink tickets at midnight on 30th April.
FIANLLY!!!! Wightlink finally doing something positive for us islanders
Should have run some kind of fast Cat service for the commuters and key workers all through this.Instead of cramming everyone the hovercraft.
Utter contempt for the users of this vital service is glaringly obvious
“cramming everyone on the hovercraft”
I have travelled for work regularly and over the last year, I have not had a single person sat next to me on the Hovercraft and neither did any other regular traveller, unless travelling with someone else.
hardly cramming them on and on some of the commuter boats, there were barely ten of us
obviously busier now, but that is to be expected – i had to queue up yesterday – first time in over a year.
woohoo!! – i can get my regular booking on the early hovers again, now that wightlinks customers will be back on their cat, at last.
Are you the original Isle of Wighter or the other Isle of Whinger that keeps maoning about something everyday
Could be anyone who uses the same screen name as me, but then again White Top – are you following isle of wighter around
Noticed a couple using the same name one is a moaner hence called isle of whinger and the other is the complete opposite of which i think you are the latter, as for following the whinger around that would be the last person i would want to be around with all the whinging it makes lol.
Absolutely disgraceful will operate for the holiday makers but not residents of the Island that need it day in and day out money comes first always.
Why would you run your company at a loss .who would that help?
Red funnel have been doing it just fine throughout lockdown? What’s wightlink s excuse?
Oh well more “I can’t go abroad yet, so I will go to the Isle of Wight” Holiday makers over here then. I wouldn’t mind but the way they treat shop staff is sickening, rude, arrogant, it’s not our fault you can’t fly away yet so don’t take it out on us.