General Manager of Ports, Colin Le Ray said the area in question was already under close inspection and was scheduled for maintenance work the following weekend, 19 and 20 May.

However, that work was unable to proceed as the products needed to replace the soft material were not available. The asphalt taxiway remained closed following that but the grass runway was available for use instead. Mr Le Ray described this as "more an inconvenience than a disruption to services."

Mr Le Ray has told Express that they are now waiting for the material and the work will be carried out as soon as possible once it arrives in the island. 

While similar patch repairs have been carried out previously, and the Alderney runway is closely monitored, Mr Le Ray said it is subject to regular engineering assessments so staff can predict and repair such issues before they materialise. He said:

“The first round of work, in late April, concentrated on the taxiway, and trialled a new product for re-instatement of the surface. Regretfully it didn’t perform as expected and an alternative had to be ordered from the UK. This has led to some reliance on the grass taxiway for several days. It’s likely some previous repairs will be replaced with a tried and tested alternative product on the maintenance visit planned for this weekend.”

He added that the potential upgrading of Alderney's runway is also still in the pipeline.

“Work to complete the business case for the full runway refurbishment is progressing well, engineers and contractors have visited Alderney Airport in the last few weeks to consider options for repair and refurbishment, to review logistics of the island, including the port and the road infrastructure etc. Timelines for the main works are being updated and will be presented to the Project Board at the end of this month.”