Hovertravel has been forced to suspend its cross-Solent service for the rest of the day (Saturday) as both of its hovercraft are out of action.
Technical issues mean that neither Solent Flyer or Island Flyer can operate on the Ryde-Southsea route this evening.
The firm says that an update will be provided at 08:00 tomorrow morning, although that is no guarantee that services will resume at that time.
It’s now expected that engineers will work through the night to get at least 1 craft back in operation for the Sunday service.
Although the much larger and more powerful Solent Express is sat on the pad at Ryde, it’s technically not part of the Hovertravel fleet. It is, however, owned by sister company Griffon Hoverwork and many commuters have been calling for its return to Hovertravel amidst the ongoing issues with the Flyer craft.
This latest disruption to cross-Solent travel comes at a time when Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel are struggling with technical issues, staffing shortages and the weather.
UPDATE – Hover services have resumed today (Sunday) with engineers successfully bringing both craft back to operational readiness last night.
Hovertravel say that there are no ongoing issues with the Flyer craft as reliability for February was 99.4% and for March was 97.8%, which they say are outstanding results compared to other transport providers.
Luckily they put on a bus service to the Cat, we came from the Pompey game but still got back ok, albeit a little delayed. Thanks to the staff.
Is this one of those cats that doesn’t like water