Hovertravel have confirmed that their Island Flyer hovercraft will remain out of action until mid-September following last week’s mechanical breakdown, which resulted in both new hovercraft being taken out of service.
‘Island Flyer’ and ‘Solent Flyer’ have been sat on the pad at Ryde as a result of an internal grounding as part of the company’s robust stop and review process. The company’s managing director, Neil Chapman, has stressed that although the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have been kept informed of developments, no enforced grounding has been implemented by the agency.
Last Wednesday afternoon passengers experienced a slow crossing between Southsea and Ryde when Island Flyer’s captain shut down one of the craft’s engines upon hearing an unusual noise. The captain also took the decision to stop short of the slipway at Ryde and the 38 passengers on board disembarked safely.
In order to ascertain the cause of the noise and to prevent any potential damage to sister craft Solent Flyer, both hovers were pulled from the Ryde to Southsea service. It has now been confirmed that Island Flyer has indeed suffered a broken internal part and a replacement cannot be obtained for another couple of weeks.
Hovertravel’s aging AP1-88 hovercraft ‘Island Express’ and ‘Freedom 90’ have been maintaining a 2-craft service throughout the busy Bank Holiday Weekend, but Solent Flyer has been given the green light to fly and can be used, if required.
Speaking to Island Echo, Neil Chapman has said:
“Although these craft are state of the art, they are both new builds and we are still going through our development programme.
“We know we have had problems and that it is taking longer to bring these new craft into service than we would have hoped, but Hovertravel is committed to running and protecting a 2-craft service.
Article continues below this advertisement “Customers will see repairs and other work taking place and we welcome any approaches from customers with any questions or concerns they may have”.
