Alderney Airport is the only

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

on the island of

Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

. Built in 1935, Alderney Airport was the first airport in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. Located on the Blaye ( southwest of

St Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

), it is the closest Channel Island airport to the south coast of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the coast of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Its facilities include a hangar, the Airport Fire Station, and

avgas Avgas (aviation gasoline, also known as aviation spirit in the UK) is an aviation fuel used in aircraft with spark-ignited internal combustion engines. ''Avgas'' is distinguished from conventional gasoline (petrol) used in motor vehicles, w ...

refuelling. Alderney Airport is the base and on-record hub of

Air Alderney Air Alderney Limited is an airline that has, for some years, been projected to serve the island of Alderney, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Air Alderney was founded on 31 January 2017, and faced numerous delays in comm ...

, an airline that, as of 2022, has had problems commencing flights since 2017.

Runways

Alderney is unique amongst Channel Islands airports in having three operational

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s. The main runway, 08/26 is long and is mainly

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

. The two secondary runways are both grass, 13/31 being long, with 03/21 having a length of . The main runway is equipped with low-intensity lighting, with portable lighting being available on runway 13/31. The approach and runway lights were replaced in 2006.

Operations

The terminal building, erected in 1968, contains an arrivals room and a departure lounge, with a

check-in Check-in is the process whereby people announce their arrival at an office, hotel, airport, hospital, seaport or event. Office check-in Many offices have a reception or front office area near the entrance to greet or assist visitors arriving to a ...

desk for the airport's only scheduled airline,

Aurigny Aurigny Air Services Limited (pronounced ), commonly known as Aurigny, is the flag carrier airline of the Bailiwick of Guernsey with its head office next to Guernsey Airport in the Channel Islands, and wholly owned by the States of Guernsey ...

. Alderney is not a 24-hour airport; during winter, it is open Monday to Saturday from 0740 until 1830 and on Sunday from 0840 until 1830. During summer, it is open Monday - Thursday from 0740 until 1830 and Friday - Sunday from 0740 until 1920. The airport also has its own

non-directional beacon A non-directional beacon (NDB) or non-directional radio beacon is a radio beacon which does not include directional information. Radio beacons are radio transmitters at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB are ...

, with runways 08 and 26 utilizing this for instrument approaches during

Instrument meteorological conditions In aviation, instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) is a METAR, flight category that describes weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by reference to Flight instruments, instruments, and therefore under instrument flight rule ...

. Both runways also have an approved

GPS (satellite) GPS satellite blocks are the various production generations of the Global Positioning System (GPS) used for satellite navigation. The first satellite in the system, Navstar 1, was launched on 22 February 1978. The GPS satellite constellatio ...

approach. This means that aircraft can land in lower visibility. Alderney has self-manoeuvring stands. Formal stands are not required due to the lack of space to accommodate nose-in-configured aircraft.

Airline and destinations

Currently the only direct scheduled links from the island are

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and

. Routes to other destinations such as

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

were abandoned over the years due to what

Blue Islands Blue Islands Limited is a British regional airline of the Channel Islands. Its head office is in Saint Peter, Jersey, and its registered office is in Saint Anne, Alderney. It operates scheduled services from and within the Channel Islands to t ...

, for example, claimed was 'lack of interest'. These routes had been operated on and off by

and

but also Alderney Air Ferries, Air Sarnia, and Air Camelot during the 1970s and 1980s. The number of air routes to the island is at its lowest since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

except for a brief intermission during the 1967-8 period, when another airline (Glos Air, later to be

Aurigny Air Services Aurigny Air Services Limited (pronounced ), commonly known as Aurigny, is the flag carrier airline of the Bailiwick of Guernsey with its head office next to Guernsey Airport in the Channel Islands, and wholly owned by the States of Guernsey ...

) was found to fill the void (see below right). From September 2013, airline

operated direct flights to

on a trial basis for a period of six weeks. In April 2015, it was announced that the States of Alderney had asked airline

Citywing Citywing (a trading name of Citywing Aviation Services Limited) was an Isle of Man-based company that sold seats on scheduled air flights operated under charter. Flights linked several airports in the British Isles, with the company having a ba ...

to operate a seasonal Summer service between Alderney and

using

Let L-410 The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice (named Aircraft Industries since 2005), often used as an airliner. The aircraft is capable of landing on short an ...

aircraft. However this service has not materialised. In January 2017, a new airline

was set up with the intention of commencing direct flights using

Britten-Norman Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

aircraft from Alderney to destinations including

, Lee-on–Solent, and

. Despite considerable progress being made in acquiring aircraft and obtaining an

Air Operator's Certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...

, to date operations have not yet commenced due to complications regarding ground operations at the intended destination airports.

Future

The

States of Alderney The States of Alderney (French: ''États d'Aurigny'') is the parliament/council and the legislature of Alderney, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The origin of the States is unknown, but has operated from the medieval period. The States of A ...

has put aside £400,000 from the £1m paid for the expansion of the airport. This will most likely be used to pay for redevelopment of the terminal, which is over 40 years old and has a leaky flat roof but in 2020 work was undertaken to repair the roof. On the 4th of July 2022 the

backed up plans to extend the runway from 2,877ft (877m) to about 3,444ft (1,050m) so the larger ATR plane can land giving the island an additional 20,000 seats per year helping in tourism, the terminal building and fire station would also be improved as part of the scheme. In December 2022 the

States of Guernsey The States of Guernsey (french: États de Guernesey), sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guern ...

agreed to the proposal to spend £24m extending and replacing the runway as well as updating the terminal building and the fire service facilities.

Statistics

References

External links

*
Official websiteLive Alderney Arrivals / Departures
(provided by FlightStats)
NATS AIS
(NATS Aeronautical Information Service)
CI Aviation
(Channel Islands aviation website) {{Alderney topics , state=collapsed Airports in the Channel Islands Buildings and structures in Alderney Transport in Alderney Companies of Alderney 1935 establishments in the British Empire