Hovertravel have announced that their not-so-new ‘Flyer’ hovercraft will return to service between Ryde and Southsea during the month of October.
The company, as part of its own compliance procedures, grounded both Solent Flyer and Island Flyer last month whilst they undertook an internal investigation. In turn this led to the continuation of the development programme of the propellers with the props being removed from both craft.
This development work has progressed well with the overseas supplier, Griffon Hoverwork, the Maritime Coastguard Agency and Hovertravel’s own engineering teams. As a result, it is hoped the refitting of the propellers to one of the craft will start in the next few days and the other craft should see the same upgrade in the next few weeks.
Hovertravel have been unable to give an exact date for when both Flyer craft will be operational, but they have said they expect the timetable to be operated by a mixture of the 4 craft during the month of October.
Neil Chapman, Managing Director of Hovertravel has today (Thursday) said:
“Speaking to many of you over the last few weeks, I fully understand that your key priorities apart from safety are reliability and on time performance, and I would like to reassure you that all my staff and myself are totally committed to these important objectives.
“As I mentioned in my previous update, the implementation of these craft for the future has taken much longer than expected and we want to thank you for your support during this time.
“Whilst you may not have seen much happening on the pad as some of you have noted to me, rest assured behind the scenes, a considerable amount of work has been undertaken to ensure we return Solent Flyer & Island Flyer back into operating the fastest service across the Solent”.
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A further update is expected on Friday 27th October.
