VIDEO: Hovertravel are to resume a normal two-craft Summer timetable tomorrow (Tuesday) following the return of Freedom 90 to Ryde this afternoon.
Freedom 90 has been undergoing repairs in Southampton after a freak incident mid-Solent back in June. Now, having passed her Marine & Coastguard Agency inspection earlier today, the craft will undergo a series of sea trials and will be back to supporting her sister craft Island Express in operating Hovertravel’s two craft summer timetable from tomorrow morning.
Neil Chapman, managing director at Hovertravel, welcomed the new craft back to the Ryde pad shortly after 17:00, taking a look at the repair work carried out to the prop and cowling.
Neil has this afternoon said:
“Along with our customers and staff, I am extremely pleased to be able to have Freedom 90 available for service. I would like to extend my sincere thanks again to our customers for their patience and understanding over the past few weeks.
“My engineers have worked very hard , along with our colleagues at Griffon, to get Freedom 90 back into the operation. Extra night shifts and locating very specific components from around the world have demonstrated the super-human efforts the team has applied to this repair.
“With the summer timetable operating, including our newly introduced 16:15 from Southsea and our extra late services for Portsmouth Live this Saturday, our Help Desk in the Ryde terminal will be open from 07:00 to 09:00 to assist customers in rebooking on their preferred commuter crossings”.
A form detailing how to claim Hovertravel’s One Craft Revised Timetable Compensation package will go live at 07:00 tomorrow morning. Customers can follow the link from the bottom of the home page of Hovertravel’s website.
Watch Freedom 90 returning to Ryde below…
