From Thomas Munro, Stratford, London:

Surely the time for the Island to have a commercial airport is now?

Is it too much to ask to seriously consider developing one of the Island’s airports?

Would it really cost that much to make one of them suitable for the likes of Easyjet, Ryanair etc to start flying here?

Wight Airlines failed several years ago due to non development of the airport as it could only use a very small plane, which made it unviable.

If you type in any of the cities, such as London, Liverpool, Bristol and Edinburgh on Skyscanner and do an everywhere search you can fly to many places in Europe for just £19 return.

The Channel Islands have flights to several destinations even though they are smaller islands with smaller populations and fewer large-scale events and far fewer tourists.

There are all kinds of funding out there for this kind of project, the Solent LEP being just one example.

The UK government even funds some start-up air routes for a few years to see if they’re viable or not.

If people are worried about noise, the hours of operation could be restricted.

Imagine the potential number of jobs that could be created and opportunities an airport could bring?

 Surely many businesses on the Island would be interested in making this idea a reality?

All I ask for now is people to sign my petition (at tinyurl.com/ycorgfm7) and join my facebook campaign page (at tinyurl.com/y9z7u9oq) so at least the relevant agencies would know whether there is demand for looking into making this into a reality.

This would finally provide a possible alternative for getting to and from the Island when the ferries are failing on a regular basis.

Many years ago you could fly between Ryde and Portsmouth. Imagine now being able to fly to London or Edinburgh instead.