History
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, British inventor Sir Christopher Cockerell had, in cooperation with British aerospace manufacturer Saunders-Roe, developed a pioneering new form of transportation, embodied in the form of the experimental SR.N1 vehicle, which became widely known as the hovercraft.[7] British manufacturer Saunders-Roe proceeded with work on various hovercraft designs, successfully developing multiple commercially viable vehicles in the mid-1960s. These included the SR.N4, a large cross-Channel ferry capable of seating up to 418 passengers along with 60 cars, and the SR.N5, the first commercially-active hovercraft.[8]
Hovertravel first commenced operations during July 1965, initially leasing a pair of SR.N6 hovercraft, a stretched model of the SR.N5 capable of seating up to 38 passengers, from the British Hovercraft Corporation (BHC). An initial service between Ryde, Southsea and Stokes Bay, Gosport, was established. At its onset, it was planned to run a seasonal summer service to provide a unique experience orientated towards tourists visiting the region; despite this intention, a high level of regular travellers and commuters used the service to the extent that a year-round service became viable.
Early on, Hovertravel faced direct competition from another hovercraft operator, the British Rail-owned Seaspeed with its rival Cowes-Southampton route. Eventually, Hovertravel took over running of the route on behalf of Seaspeed; however, in 1980, the decision was taken to discontinue the Cowes-Southampton service due to rising costs and increased competition from Red Funnel's hydrofoils, instead concentrating its resources on the Ryde-Southsea service, which was viewed as being more viable.[9]
In addition to its scheduled services, Hovertravel was also quick to enter the charter market.[9] Its hovercraft proved to be of particular value to hydrocarbon exploration and seismographic surveys, which would see Hovertravel craft deployed to barren deserts, frozen arctic conditions, and previously unexplored areas of the world. During 1968, one such expedition by a single SR.N6 successfully traversed the perilous Orinoco river during an exploratory mission deep into the Amazon rainforest.[9] While the SR.N6 had helped to prove the value of hovercraft, it was not without its flaws; due to its dependency on aviation-derived technologies, Hovertravel's fleet became increasingly expensive to maintain over time, while its high noise output was not an attractive feature either.[9]
As a result of high oil prices following the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, the economics of the first generation of commercial hovercraft was badly hit, undermining operators' profitability and provoking customer requests for vehicles with greater fuel efficiency.[10] The BHC achieved several advances throughout the 1970s, improving its skirt technology to increase durability and require less power, while propulsion changes helped to drive down operating costs and thereby improve the hovercraft's commercial viability.[10] While early craft had been powered by gas turbine engines, which were frequently similar to the turboshaft engines used on helicopters; advances in diesel engines enabled their application to a new generation of hovercraft.[11][12] Hovertravel elected to procure the newly developed British Hovercraft Corporation AP1-88, a medium-size diesel-powered hovercraft.[9]
Prior to the delivery of Hovertravel's first AP1-88 hovercraft in 1983, extensive trials were performed of the vehicle to evaluate it.[9] It was found to be considerably more economic to operate and to purchase, costing half the price of the older SR.N6 in both respects.[13][11] The quieter and more economical AP1-88 was credited by Hovertravel as having revitalised the industry; the type soon entirely replaced the SR.N6 and form the bulk of the company's hovercraft fleet into the 21st century.[9]
By the turn of the century, Hovertravel was reportedly transporting almost 1 million passengers per year across its fleet, while its services were sometimes running at an interval of every 15 minutes at particularly busy points of the day. To cope with demand, the company sought a suitable replacement for its ageing AP1-88s.[9] While a single BHT-130 hovercraft was operated for four years, it proved to be uneconomical on the relatively short Isle of Wight route, being better suited to longer routes, such as around Edinburgh. Another type of hovercraft was, therefore, sought to serve the Isle of Wight service.[9]
Hovertravel's close relationship with hovercraft manufacturer Griffon Hoverwork has facilitated its preferences and requirements to shape the development of new hovercraft. During the 2010s, while defining what would become the 12000TD hovercraft, Griffon Hoverwork drew on passenger-orientated analysis supplied by Hovertravel.[14] Hovertravel would later acquire this vehicle, on which the passenger experience was enhanced over earlier vehicles in multiple ways, including the incorporation of noise-minimisation measures, increased external visibility, and accessibility accommodation.[14] Production of this new twin-diesel engine hovercraft, designated 12000TD, commenced in 2015, with deliveries starting during the following year. The type has been hailed as Hovertravel's quietest and most economically viable hovercraft to date.[9]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, two of the company's hovercraft were modified to take stretchers, and a temporary landing point was opened in Southampton to allow patients to be transferred to its hospital.[15]
