[6] British manufacturer Saunders-Roe proceeded with work on various hovercraft designs, successfully developing multiple commercially viable vehicles in the mid-1960s.

[8] Early on, Hovertravel faced direct competition from another hovercraft operator, the British Rail-owned Seaspeed with its rival Cowes-Southampton route.

[8] 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.

[8] 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.

[12][10] 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.

[8] 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.

[8] 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.

[14] For several decades, Hovertravel had operated a hovercraft ferry route between the mainland of the United Kingdom (UK) from Southsea across the Solent to Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

[15] That same year, Southsea Terminal was refurbished to extend its lifetime and improve its facilities; alterations included a new wall separating the hoverport and the esplanade, as well as new lighting, toilet blocks, and a clean up of the site.

[16] During October 2017, both of the Griffon Hoverwork 12000TD hovercraft were temporarily taken out of service due to several technical and reliability issues, including instances of engine failure.

The craft had been en route from Ryde to Southsea with 26 people on board, including the crew; it had been about a quarter of a mile (400 metres) offshore when it was hit by an unusually large wave, causing the vehicle to capsize.