Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is 3 miles (4.8 km) long and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide. The area is 3 square miles (7.8 km2), making it the third largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick. It is around 10 miles (16 km) to the west of La Hague in the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, in France, 20 miles (32 km) to the north-east of Guernsey and 60 miles (97 km) from the south coast of England. It is the closest of the Channel Islands to France as well as being the closest to England. It is separated from Cap de la Hague by the dangerous Race of Alderney (Le Raz).
The island has a population of only 2,400 people and they are traditionally nicknamed vaques after the cows, or else lapins after the many rabbits seen in the island. Formally, they are known as Ridunians, from the Latin Riduna.
The only parish of Alderney is the parish of St. Anne which covers the whole island.
The main town, St. Anne, ('La Ville' or simply 'Town' in English) is referred to as 'St Anne's'. It features an imposing church and unevenly cobbled high street. There is a primary school, a secondary school, and a post office as well as hotels, restaurants, banks and shops.
Alderney Airport (IATA: ACI, ICAO: EGJA) is the only airport on the island of Alderney. Built in 1935, Alderney Airport was the first airport in the Channel Islands. Located 1 NM (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) southwest of St Anne, it is the closest Channel Island airport to the South coast of England and the coast of France and its facilities include a hangar, the Airport Fire Station and low cost, duty-free and tax-free Avgas refuelling. In 2009 the airport handled 74,835 passengers and 8,284 total movements , a 3% and 6.1% decrease respectively when compared to the 2008 figures.
The only direct scheduled links from the island are, at July 2010, Southampton and Guernsey. Routes to other destinations such as Brighton, Bournemouth, Cherbourg, Exeter, Plymouth and Jersey were abandoned over the years due to what Blue Islands for example claimed was 'lack of interest'. These routes had been operated on and off by Aurigny and Blue Islands but also Air Regency, Air Sarnia and Air Camelot during the 1980s.
