Alderney drop-in shows support for airport upgrade
ABOUT 10% of Alderney’s adult population turned out for a drop-in on the proposed £24m. airport improvement plan yesterday, with an overwhelmingly positive response.
Chief Minister Peter Ferbrache, and States’ Trading Supervisory Board president Peter Roffey travelled to the island yesterday to discuss their committees’ policy letter, which proposes resurfacing and extending the runway, as well as constructing a new terminal and refurbishing the airport fire station.
About 40 people were already there when the event started.
‘We had a really great day,’ Deputy Roffey said.
‘There were about 220 adults, which is 10% of the population of Alderney, during a working day, which is an incredible turnout. It was very positive, we were overwhelmed by the support.’
He said there were some worries about swapping from the Dornier to the larger ATR aircraft, with concerns that routes could be dropped and quiet services cancelled.
But he said they were able to address and allay those concerns.
Deputy Ferbrache said he had also been pleasantly surprised by the positive feedback.
He said it was interesting to see that young people were particularly keen, but there were a few concerns from older islanders.
‘They were asking if they were really necessary,’ he said. ‘I can’t see any logical alternative to this plan.’
