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"Can we actually wait?” Alex Snowdon asks me when sitting down to discuss the ongoing confusion around Alderney’s runway.
“When does this become a dangerous situation?” continued the island politician.
They’re good questions. The island’s runway is crumbling and has been patched up countless times. The current length only allows smaller planes to land, reducing connectivity and the ability to operate a more consistent service to the northern isle.
And a promise of a new runway has been hanging over the island for nearly two years. Frustrations abound and some politicians in Alderney are on the cusp of calling for protests and legal action.
So, what’s going on?
Aurigny has been serving the island of Alderney for decades, with Islanders, Trislanders and now the Dorniers. The airline currently operates a two-plane model between Alderney, Guernsey and Southampton.
The routes out of Alderney have essentially been operating at a loss for Aurigny, with the cost to the airline amounting to roughly £3million a year between 2016 and 2019. As this cost eventually feeds back to the public – Aurigny is States owned – a decision was made to put a Public Service Obligation (PSO) out to tender, to see if the route could be operated for cheaper.
There were several rounds of the tender process but unsurprisingly it came down to Aurigny winning the PSO.
Alderney’s airport infrastructure is a lifeline to the outside world, and this has been reflected in a subsidy by the States of guernsey of roughly £2million a year to support Aurigny’s service.
Pictured: The Dornier.
This PSO expires at the end of 2025 and ensures Alderney retains its lifeline routes to Guernsey and Southampton.
“Both are really essential routes for our economy and for growth. But obviously there was a need to potentially look at if there was any alternative solutions and I think the mandate or direction that the States of Guernsey gave Aurigny is that they've got to try and achieve ‘breaking even’,” explains Mr Snowdon.
“I think the two-plane model is quite weak.”
The current set-up leaves Alderney open to consistent cancellations. For example, the runway doesn’t allow for locally operating medivacs to land, so every time a medivac is required the seats are taken out of a Dornier and the plane is unavailable for commercial trips. If a plane goes tech, it’s left to one plane to pick up the slack.
The answer? Extend the runway.
In 2022 The States of Guernsey backed plans to invest many millions of pounds in Alderney's airport and runway.
Pictured: Deputy Peter Roffey - as President of the States Trading Supervisory Board - led debate on proposals to adopt plans known as 'Option C+'.
The agreed refurbishment involves resurfacing, widening and extending the existing strip, which will enable larger aircraft to fly in and out of the island
The original price tag for this work was £24million and included the refurbishment, or replacement, of the island’s terminal building and airport fire station
As it stands, the airport runway was resurfaced more than 20 years ago and hundreds of thousands of pounds has been spent patching up and remediating the deteriorating runway
In fact, when originally announcing the tender process, Guernsey Ports Chief Operating Officer, Ross Coppolo, hoped there wouldn’t be any delay
"By its nature, this is a long process, so it is vital that we start now so that we will be in a position to award a contract at the beginning of 2024, with a view to commencing work on site in spring next year. If we miss that window it could delay the project by up to a year, which would necessitate more extensive remedial works and increase the risk of a more serious runway failure.”
The tender process for the refurbishment of Alderney’s airport is running several months behind schedule, with the latest update putting it in the ‘Value Engineering Period’ which was anticipated to be completed by the end of last year.
Guernsey Ports began the tender process in May 2023, after the States of Guernsey approved plans to fully refurbish the current runway in Alderney.
Nearly a year later and the infrastructure concerns raised by Alderney politicians and residents have only become more acute.
"Can we actually wait? When does this [become] a dangerous situation - I don't think we've actually got any more time to wait on this, I think we do really need to see action on this,” says Mr Snowdon.
“This is a key piece of infrastructure for the Bailiwick, and we do need to move forward... This is something that's deteriorating, and it's seriously deteriorating.
"I would hate for either the runway to be closed or for a major incident to happen. That'd be dreadful, especially when we know it's in this state.”
Mr Snowdon has been joined by Alderney’s longest serving politician, Steve Roberts, in bemoaning the current delay.
During an interview with the Alderney Journal, Mr Roberts said the ongoing delay is a “total scandal” that is impacting everything in the island, from hospitality to health travel.
He argues that the two-plane model is inadequate.
While visiting the island, I spoke to Andrew Eggleston, President of the Alderney Chamber of Commerce, who said the situation is frustrating.
"We continue to be in limbo.
"We can't leave the runway. I've walked it a couple of times... It's an awful runway. If this had been approved a couple of years ago we would've probably saved [millions]... so the longer it's delayed, the more it's going to cost and the more it will go over budget.
"However, it still feels like it needs to be subsidised. It's not a profit making enterprise for anyone."
He also refuted the idea that island should simply rely on a bolstered ferry service.
"That's damn stupid... it wouldn't work in the winter."
Concerns with the continued delay in the tender process were touched on recently by Deputy Mark Helyar during an interview on Riduna Radio:
“We've had no news about that for quite some time... So, fingers crossed there'll be some developments coming shortly. But I don't think it's going to be good news personally.
“There were some deputies who wanted to bring an amendment during one of the investment and budget plans last year and unfortunately... some of those deputies perhaps don't realise that if you're in the middle of a tender process, and politicians start to mess about with it, it tends to put people off.
“That leads to political uncertainty... so, it's really unfortunate that those individuals tried to interfere with it, because I don't think it helped at all.”
Express reached out to Guernsey Ports at the beginning of April to get an update on the process. Mr Coppolo, said:
“We are continuing to undertake a thorough assessment of all the various elements of the tender submissions, as well as exploring value engineering opportunities.
“It is important that this is done thoroughly as the value engineering phase of the tender process will result in a 'best and final offer', which effectively becomes the tender price.
“As this remains a live procurement process, we are unable to comment further until this phase of the project has been completed.”
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