Alderney Airport closed due to runway pothole

Alderney Airport closed due to runway pothole

Emergency repairs had to be carried out last Monday, forcing the airport to shut for an hour and a half while the hole, which measured three square feet, was filled.

It came after a pilot had to disembark his Dornier aircraft and be shown the pothole – and then guided around it by airport firefighters.

Guernsey Airport, which has responsibility for Alderney Airport, said it closely monitored the condition of the runway and that a rolling programme of repairs was under way.

But passengers and some States Members have raised concerns, not only about safety but also disruption to service.

‘It’s not good enough,’ said Steve Roberts, who is a member of the Air Transport Advisory Group.

‘It’s getting dangerous. If the pothole had not been spotted and the Dornier had landed on it we don’t know what could have happened. Funding for widening and resurfacing the runway was earmarked years ago and nothing has happened. I’m bringing forward a question to the States of Alderney on it next week.’

Colin Le Ray, general manager of ports, said an area approximately 1.3 sq m was noted to have shed some stone on first inspection of the runway on Monday 14 May and it had to be closed from 7.30 am to 9 am for repairs.

He said the runway was continually being inspected.

‘The area in question was already under close inspection and was scheduled for maintenance work this weekend.

‘Similar patch repairs have been carried out previously and the Alderney runway is closely monitored and subject to regular engineering assessment to predict and repair such issues before they materialise.

‘The first round of work, in late April, concentrated on the taxiway and trialled a new product for reinstatement 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 an alternative product on the maintenance visit planned for this weekend.’

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