Hovertravel Services Back In Operation

Hovertravel services are back operating between Ryde on the Isle of Wight and Southsea, after being suspended by coastguard bosses.

The services were stopped on Friday 18th November, following an incident on 30th October involving the propeller on the largest hovercraft in the company's fleet. 

Over the weekend both Hovertravel and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspected the other two operating hovercraft, which are of a different design and type, to check they're safe.

Neil Chapman, Managing Director said.

"The safety of our passengers, staff and vessels is of paramount importance to us,"

"Hovertravel has operated for many decades with an outstanding safety record and clearly puts safety as the number
one priority. 

"I know that the decision to suspend our services completely has caused significant inconvenience to all of our customers and I can only
apologise to them, personally, for that disruption.  

"There was no question of us operating until both the company and our regulatory authority, the MCA, were completely satisfied with our safety compliance.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for their patience and all of our staff, who have worked tirelessly throughout the weekend, to manage this difficult situation and enable operations to resume.  

"I would also like to thank Wightlink for their help in meeting the extra demand on their services."

"Hovertravel is a long standing and familiar part of the Solent, operating for over forty years and, as well as being a vital commuter link for the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth communities, is a popular tourist attraction," 

"We are now looking forward to getting back to doing what we do best, operating the fastest link between the mainland and the Isle of
Wight."

Hovertravel will be operating a temporary revised timetable using one hovercraft, until the second hovercraft is serviceable, following the propellers being refitted.  Services will run every 30 minutes during peak commuter times and every hour at other times. 

There's more information at www.hovertravel.com.

The first timetabled services were at  15:15 from Ryde and 15:30 from Southsea.