The boss of cross-Solent operator Hovertravel, Neil Chapman, is leaving the company after almost 15 years at the helm.
Following its recent, comprehensive commercial review, which evaluated all roles in the business, the Board of Directors and Neil Chapman have agreed that he will step down as the company’s Managing Director later this year.
It was back in December that Island Echo revealed Hovertravel was looking to make redundancies in response to the loss of almost 90,000 passengers and Budget changes announced by the Labour Government. Last month news broke that the company was cutting its morning and evening services amid financial pressures, as previously reported by Island Echo.
When Neil joined the company in 2010, Hovertravel was transporting around 830,000 passengers between Southsea and the Isle of Wight each year. In 2016, in a year when the operator carried 788,119 passengers, Neil expressed a desire to build on passenger numbers. But 9 years on the reality is quite the opposite… just 590,000 passengers are now being flown across the Solent – a drop of 28% during Neil’s tenure.
The company has gone through a number of huge changes during Neil’s time as Managing Director, including the departure of the AP1-88 craft which were replaced with the more troublesome and controversial Flyer craft. The unreliability and performance of the ‘new’ craft has hurt Hovertravel, as did the COVID pandemic.
It has been confirmed that 56-year-old Neil will continue to work as MD for up to 6 months while he transitions his responsibilities to his senior colleagues.
Island Echo understands Nick Gaggero, Chief Executive of the parent company Bland Group, will soon take over as interim boss to help steer Hovertravel into the future, but this has not been confirmed.
Hovertravel’s Head of Finance, Cindy Peche, was last month appointed as Financial Director of the company.
A spokesperson for Hovertravel has told Island Echo:
“Hovertravel hugely appreciates Neil’s dedication and commitment to the company over the past 15 years.
“We thank him for his continued efforts during this process and wish him all the best in the future”.
Ye because it’s nearly done with..
Reduced fares would be a nice idea.