In the weeks until the States Assembly actually sits down and decides whether to go ahead with the £80m. airport renovation project, it is clear that the public debate is already well under way.

That is not surprising. It is a huge sum of money for the island to spend – approaching £2,000 per taxpayer – and the work is very unpopular in the western parishes, especially in the run-up to next year’s general election.

In addition, there are concerns about the benefits to the local economy of the spend and whether it is truly value for money, given the far cheaper cost of other, apparently comparable, airport works.

Whether islanders like it or not, however, the airport project has to go ahead.

It was opened in 1939 and has since become a key strategic facility accommodating an average of 160 aircraft movements a day and last year saw 889,000 passengers pass through the terminal, 76% of them from the UK.

And while the ‘new’ terminal was opened in 2004, many of the other airfield facilities are largely unchanged since the early 1970s while the runway itself was last resurfaced in 1974. That lack of maintenance means it has deteriorated to the point where restrictions are being imposed on the types of aircraft that can operate there.

On top of that, the rate at which the surface is degrading is actually worsening, partly caused by the recent severe winters and the attempts to keep it free from ice.

As well as seeing an average of nearly 2,500 people a day pass through its doors, it is also a major employer, supporting 649 full-time equivalent jobs, plus 118 in situ and, according to consultant York Aviation in 2009, provides an income injection of £31m. a year into the Guernsey economy.

However, the biggest benefit it provides is from the contribution Guernsey airport makes to the connectedness of the Bailiwick as a place to live, work and visit rather than the direct impacts of the operation itself.

In short, not having a fully functioning airfield is simply not an option for this island if it wants a future – whatever the cost.