Alderney Airport Runway Rebuild Delayed to 2028 Despite £24m Approval

The States of Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee has confirmed that construction on the rebuild of Alderney Airport's runway will now begin in 2028 rather than 2027, a delay of at least one year. The States of Guernsey had approved up to £24m for the project in February 2026, at which point officials had hoped construction could start in 2027.

The original timetable had envisaged an invitation to tender being issued in March 2026 and completed by June, but that process was not completed because additional design work is required before construction contracts can be put out to tender. The committee said the revised schedule follows regulatory advice and feedback from the States of Alderney, which necessitated the further design work, and that the milestones set out in the January 2026 policy letter have been revised accordingly.

Officials said the revised plans would retain the runway's existing width of 18 metres rather than expanding it to the regulatory standard of 23 metres, a decision described as delivering cost savings and pursued "for the collective financial benefit". The committee said it remains committed to delivering the project within the current £24m delegated authority, though the budget must also cover additional costs such as alternative transport and medical evacuation arrangements during construction. It added that no definitive completion timeline could be given until a contract has been awarded and early contractor engagement has begun, and that it remains committed to completing the work "as soon as is practically possible and at the lowest possible costs, without compromising safety in the meantime."

Runway rebuild projects on small island airports often carry funding approval and construction timing as separate decisions, and this case shows how a budget sign-off does not fix a start date once design or regulatory questions remain open. Feedback from local authorities and regulators can reopen design work even after a delegated budget has been set, pushing the schedule back without necessarily changing the approved cost ceiling.

The choice to keep the runway at its existing width instead of widening it to the regulatory standard also illustrates how airport authorities can trade a stricter technical standard for cost control, provided the narrower configuration remains operable. Whether that trade-off holds will depend on what the tender process and early contractor engagement reveal about cost, since alternative transport and medical evacuation arrangements during construction still have to be funded from within the same £24m.

The next marker will be the award of a construction contract and the start of early contractor engagement, which the committee has said are prerequisites for setting any definitive completion date.