Guernsey Ports says it hopes to award a contract for the airport redevelopment and runway lengthening within the next couple of months.

A timeline published by Guernsey Ports last May suggested that the tender would be awarded by January 2024 for the significant refurbishment of Alderney Airport.

Ports' chief operating officer, Ross Coppolo says that will be a little later than planned, but is: "likely to be within the next couple of months."

The sums involved, and the scale of the work, are significant. The States of Guernsey approved the project in December 2022 at a cost of £24M, with the States of Alderney contributing £3.5M on top of that. At the time of the debate it was agreed that if the estimate increased significantly then the States would have the option to re-examine it.

The runway will be lengthened and resurfaced and there'll be a new terminal and fire service building. The longer runway will enable Aurigny to operate ATR72s into Alderney. It's estimated this will save considerable amounts over the current Dornier operation although they won't be able to operate with a full cabin of passengers.

Alderney politician Steve Roberts, who represents the island in the States of Guernsey, says it's 'vital' for Alderney and will save Aurigny 'millions.'

Ross Coppolo says Ports are examining the tender in detail:

“We are currently undertaking a thorough assessment of all the various elements of the tender submissions, covering the different components of the works, as well as exploring value engineering opportunities.

The value engineering phase of the tender process will result in a “best and final offer”, which effectively becomes the tender price."

This means that there could end up being some modifications to the tender to ensure that the taxpayer gets the best value for money.

Mr Coppolo wasn't able to discuss costs:

"“As this remains a live tender process, we are unable to comment further until this phase of the project has been completed."