Alderney Airport runway repairs cost more than £500k in two years

There have been ongoing cracking and erosion issues on the airfield, which led to its closure for 36 hours from Wednesday

Alderney Airport has spent more than £500,000 in two years on repairs to the main runway, and further work may be needed, its boss has said.

There have been ongoing cracking and erosion issues on the airfield, which led to its closure for 36 hours from Wednesday.

Debate continues over proposals for a £24m refurbishment of the airport and runway.

The States of Deliberation is due to make a decision in November.

Colin Le Ray, general manager of Guernsey Ports, said they would continue to carry out necessary repairs "unabated" - but said it was a bit like "throwing good money after bad".

He said: "On the last set of repairs we don't have the bills yet.

"We are spending around £250,000 plus on each of the major repairs that we have undertaken - we undertook one earlier this summer and we did one last year as well."

'Fair solution'

He added: "We really do now need to take a view from the States (of Guernsey) as to which of the schemes it prefers us to pursue and we will do that and obviously that would be a better application of cash and a more fair solution for the community in Alderney."

In addition to major repairs this summer and last year, on Tuesday a defect was found during a routine inspection which identified "failure in the base material".

Mr Le Ray said they were yet to finalise costs for the latest repairs, but they included night shift work and having to bring in "specialist contractors from the UK".

Contractors would return next week, he added, to carry out a "further survey" and to assess whether more works would be needed before the winter.

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