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Alderney Airport is a small Channel Islands aerodrome perched on La Grande Blaye, a headland about a nautical mile southwest of St Anne, and holds the distinction of being the first airport built in the Channel Islands, opening in 1935. It offers a sim pilot an unusual three-runway layout with one hard surface and two grass strips, along with an air traffic control tower and NDB and GPS approaches for its main runway.
Alderney Airport is the only airfield serving the small Channel Island of Alderney, operated by the States of Guernsey and located on La Grande Blaye, a low headland just southwest of the island's main town, St Anne. Opened in 1935, it was the first operational airport in the Channel Islands and remains the closest Channel Island airfield to both the south coast of England and the coast of France. For the sim pilot it is a compact but characterful destination, combining a tower-controlled hard runway with two grass strips, self-manoeuvring aircraft stands and a distinctly island-hopping feel, with Aurigny operating the main scheduled services to Guernsey and Southampton.
The airport sits on La Grande Blaye, about one nautical mile southwest of St Anne, Alderney's principal settlement, and is the northernmost of the Channel Islands airfields, closer to the English south coast and the French coast than any of its neighbours. It lies within Channel Islands airspace and is served by Guernsey Approach for wider traffic coordination, with the airfield itself under the control of its own tower.
Alderney has three physical runways, unusual among the Channel Islands airfields for retaining three operational directions. The main runway, 08/26, is 2875 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit. The two secondary runways are both grass and also lit: 13/31 at 2407 feet and 03/21 at 1628 feet. There is no ILS at the field.
Alderney's radio environment includes Guernsey Approach on 128.65 MHz for approach coordination, with the airfield's own Ground frequency at 130.5 MHz and Tower on 125.35 MHz. The airport has its own non-directional beacon, with runways 08 and 26 able to fly NDB approaches in instrument meteorological conditions, and both runway ends also have an approved GPS approach, allowing landings in lower visibility than the NDB procedure alone would permit.
Traffic at Alderney is managed by its air traffic control tower, and pilots should expect to work with Tower on 125.35 MHz and Ground on 130.5 MHz once in the vicinity of the field, with Guernsey Approach handling wider inbound coordination on 128.65 MHz. The airport uses self-manoeuvring stands rather than formal parking positions, reflecting the limited apron space available for nose-in configured aircraft.
The airfield is readily identified from the air by its position on La Grande Blaye headland, close to and southwest of St Anne, Alderney's main town, making the settlement itself a useful landmark when approaching from over the island or from seaward.
Alderney Airport was built in 1935, making it the first operational airport in the Channel Islands, predating the airfields on Guernsey and Jersey. Its passenger terminal was erected in 1968 and remains in use today, having been refurbished during the 2020 lockdown period when airport staff also patched the runway surface. Over the decades the island has seen a shifting pattern of air services, with routes to destinations such as Brighton, Bournemouth, Cherbourg, Exeter and Plymouth operated at various times by carriers including Alderney Air Ferries, Air Sarnia and Air Camelot, though most were later withdrawn. The main runway was resurfaced in 1999 and received further patch repairs in 2016 and again in 2020, reflecting its long operational life, and in 2022 the States of Guernsey agreed funding to extend, widen and strengthen the runway alongside a new terminal building, though the scope and timing of that work lies beyond the historical record here.
Alderney Airport continues to operate as the island's sole airfield, with Aurigny providing the principal scheduled services to Guernsey and Southampton using its main hard runway. The airport is not open around the clock: during winter it operates Monday to Saturday from 0740 to 1830 and on Sundays from 0840 to 1830, while during British Summer Time it opens Monday to Thursday from 0740 to 1830 and Friday to Sunday from 0740 to 1930. The terminal, dating from 1968, houses a small cafe, and the field is equipped with an air traffic control tower, a hangar and its own fire station.
