Hovertravel hovercraft

Hovertravel

Hovertravel is the world's longest-running commercial hovercraft service. It began in July 1965, when it leased a pair of 38-seat SR.N6 hovercraft from the British Hovercraft Corporation and ran them between Ryde, Southsea and Stokes Bay in Gosport. The Isle of Wight has a long hovercraft history: the world's first practical hovercraft was built by Saunders-Roe at Cowes in 1959.

Through the decades the fleet has changed with the technology. The diesel-powered AP1-88 craft, which Hovertravel introduced in 1983, were the first diesel commercial hovercraft. One of them, brought in during 1990, was named Double-O-Seven, the operator explaining that the Bond film title "Licence to Kill" had been judged inappropriate.

Today two hovercraft cross the Solent between Southsea Common and Ryde in under ten minutes, carrying foot passengers only, and more than 29 million people have used the service since it began. Because a hovercraft rides on a cushion of air, it can cross at any state of the tide, which suits a shore where the sea draws back a long way.