. hovertravel industry passenger transportation founded 1965 headquarters southsea united kingdom area served solent parent bland group website www.hovertravel.co.uk freedom 90 at ryde hovertravel is a ferry company operating from southsea portsmouth to ryde isle of wight uk . it is the only passenger hovercraft company currently operating in britain since hoverspeed stopped using its craft in favour of catamarans . hovertravel is now the world s oldest hovercraft operator 1 and this service is believed to be unique in western europe . 2 the service commenced operations in 1965 and currently operates two hovercraft on a single route between ryde and southsea although it formerly operated also between ryde and gosport and cowes and southampton . 3 the service operates between southsea common on the english mainland and ryde transport interchange on the isle of wight the crossing time of less than 10 minutes makes it the fastest route across the solent from land to land . 4 contents 1 1972 accident 2 service suspension 3 fleet 3.1 current 3.2 past 4 scotland 5 references 6 external links 1972 accident edit on 4 march 1972 hovertravel s sr n6 012 capsized off southsea with a loss of five lives including one person missing presumed drowned . this was the world s first fatal accident involving a commercially operated hovercraft and the first fatal accident involving a hovercraft in the united kingdom . 5 6 the craft en route from ryde to southsea was hit by an unusually large wave . the hovercraft capsized about quarter of a mile 400 metres offshore . 6 after rescuing all visible survivors the hovercraft was towed ashore at southsea . 7 service suspension edit hovertravel suspends the timetable when the wind reaches gale force 8 and above . the service was suspended on 18 november 2011 after an incident on 30 october 2011 in which the hovercraft solent express suffered a propeller failure . 8 services resumed with one craft on the afternoon of 21 november 2011 . the service was again suspended after a second incident on 27 june 2015 when during the 21 45 crossing the freedom 90 hovercraft experienced a major fault with the port propeller with the loss of all four propeller blades and one of the three rudder blades . fleet edit the current and past fleet current edit ap1 88 freedom 90 1990 present griffon 12000td solent flyer 2016 present griffon 12000td island flyer 2016 present past edit srn6 025 1968 1980 srn6 026 1966 srn6 130 1965 1980 freedom 1974 1982 sea hawk 1977 1983 tenacity 1983 1990 resolution 1983 1987 perseverance 1985 1988 double o seven 1989 2003 courier 1990 2000 idun viking 1997 2002 bht130 solent express 17 march 2007 30 october 2011 island express 2002 17 august 2016 9 10 scotland edit hovertravel s hovercraft have occasionally been chartered to operate temporary services across the firth of tay between carnoustie and st andrews in connection with major golf tournaments due to carnoustie s relative lack of hotel accommodation . also the solent express was chartered to operate an experimental service across the firth of forth marketed as forthfast between portobello edinburgh and kirkcaldy 16 28 july 2007 . 11 references edit bbc hovercraft on the isle of wight . www.bbc.co.uk . retrieved 25 september 2008 . magazine justin parkinson bbc news . what happened to passenger hovercraft . bbc news . retrieved 2015 11 09 . about hovertravel . retrieved 2016 07 10 . hovertravel homepage . www.hovertravel.co.uk . retrieved 13 september 2008 . http hansard.millbanksystems.com commons 1972 mar 06 hovercraft accident chapter url missing title help . parliamentary debates hansard . house of commons . 6 march 1972 . col. 1029 1030 . a b http hansard.millbanksystems.com written answers 1972 dec 20 hovercraft casualty chapter url missing title help . parliamentary debates hansard . house of commons . 20 december 1972 . col. 380w 381w . http homepage.ntlworld.com graham.alland mypage2.htm 1972 the hovercraft check url value help . thirty two years in the ambulance service . portsmouth and hampshire uk . retrieved 17 september 2009 . hovertravel operations suspended . maritime and coastguard agency . 18 november 2011 . new craft project http www.yasamotors.com application example marine hovercraft stagecoach fife forthfast . www.stagecoachbus.com . retrieved 13 september 2008 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to hovertravel . hovertravel official website history and current details of hovertravel and hovercraft used account and pictures of the 1972 accident v t e transport on the isle of wight places bembridge airport yarmouth bus station isle of wight sandown airport newport bus station ryde transport interchange cowes floating bridge operators southern vectis island line trains other isle of wight ferry services hovertravel red funnel wightlink cowes park and ride railways isle of wight steam railway island line v t e ceremonial county of isle of wight isle of wight portal unitary authorities isle of wight major settlements bembridge brading cowes east cowes freshwater newport ryde sandown shanklin ventnor yarmouth see also list of civil parishes in isle of wight rivers river caul bourne river medina newtown river solent wootton creek eastern yar western yar topics buildings and structures culture dinosaurs education geography history people places politics schools transport visitor attractions retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title hovertravel & oldid 735735748 categories shipping companies of the united kingdomferry transport on the isle of wightportsmouthtransport in hampshire1965 establishments in englandhidden categories pages with citations having bare urlspages with url errorsengvarb from september 2013use dmy dates from september 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured 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