Saint Helena Airport is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer r ...

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constit ...

, a remote island in the south

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, in the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Br ...

of Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha. The construction of the runway was finished in 2015 and the airport opened in 2016. The inaugural scheduled flight was delayed but general aviation, charter, and medical evacuation flights were able to serve the airport from May 2016. The airport began scheduled commercial services on 14 October 2017, when the South African carrier

Airlink Airlink is an airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its main business is to provide services between smaller, under-served towns and larger hub airports. It has since expanded to offer flights on larger, mainline routes. The airline h ...

inaugurated a weekly service from

O. R. Tambo International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, via

Walvis Bay Airport Walvis Bay International Airport is an airport serving Walvis Bay,Airport information for FYW ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, using an Embraer E190-100IGW, about one and a half years after the originally expected inauguration date, and with a smaller-sized aircraft, because of

wind shear Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizont ...

problems affecting the airport.AIRPORT OPENING CEREMONY POSTPONED
(St Helena Government 26 April 2016)bbc.com – St Helena airport delay 'to increase cost to UK government'
9 May 2016 Additionally, monthly charter flights operate between

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of ...

and Saint Helena.

History

Background

Saint Helena is more than from the nearest major landmass. Prior to the opening of the airport, the island was only reachable by sea, making it one of the most remote populated places on earth, measured as travel time from major cities. Sea journeys used to take five days from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, with departures once every three weeks. The first consideration of an airport on St Helena was made in 1943 by the

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

, which undertook a survey on Prosperous Bay Plain from October 1943 until January 1944, but concluded that, while technically feasible, an airport was not a practical proposition. From the 1960s, there was an idea to build an airport on the Island. In 1999, this was taken up by the island government. It was suggested that an airport would extend the United Kingdom's capabilities to carry out airborne missions in the South Atlantic region, such as

maritime patrol {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008 Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to ac ...

s in accordance with international fishing agreements (e.g.,

International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is a tuna regional fishery management organisation, responsible for the management and conservation of tuna and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. T ...

), counter-piracy missions along important trade routes, and also

airlift An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distan ...

operations notably into Southern Africa. According to analysts, the UK government's decision to finally go ahead with the airport, after long delays, seems to be driven in part by concerns over a continuing tense standoff with Argentina in the

Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute Sovereignty over the Falkland Islands ( es, Islas Malvinas) is disputed by Argentina and the United Kingdom. The British claim to sovereignty dates from 1690, when they made the first recorded landing on the islands, and the United Kingdom has exe ...

. The island is about from the Falklands – seven hours and 40 minutes' flight time. But, analysts say that was nevertheless an improvement over the present state of isolation from the UK for both St Helena and the Falklands. The following possible benefits were also factors in the decision-making process: * Air access would allow St Helena to develop its tourism sector. * The new wharf in Rupert's Bay could allow regularly passing cruise ships to land passengers at the island and bring tourists if sized appropriately. The lack of a protected landing facility represents a limitation on the development of cruise tourism. In unfavourable sea conditions, landing is hazardous and potential revenue is lost as many cruise ships refuse to allow passengers to land in such circumstances. In addition, because there is no protected landing facility, many cruise companies do not incorporate St Helena into their itineraries. The sea is roughest in summer which marks the peak of the cruise season. * Medical evacuations to South Africa for treatment of serious cases of illness would be sped up significantly: it may take up to one month until transport to South Africa by RMS ''St Helena'' becomes available. * The availability of heavy construction equipment would facilitate

alternative energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

projects, such as the construction of larger wind turbines, a tidal power plant or a dam with a hydro-power station in one of St Helena's valleys. Limitations in cargo size of ''

RMS St Helena At least two ships have borne the name RMS ''St Helena'': * * Ship names {{Short pages monitor

Statistics

Aerodrome characteristics, equipment and facilities

The airport was built on Prosperous Bay Plain, on the east side of Saint Helena, entailing a concrete runway length of with taxiway and apron, an approximately rockfill embankment through which a long reinforced concrete culvert was proposed but contractor Basil Read got approval to use an open channel instead. This was approved by the St Helena Government, together with an airport terminal building of and support infrastructure, air traffic control and safety, bulk fuel installation for of diesel and aviation fuel, a airport access road from Rupert's Bay to the airport, and all related logistics."''Basil Read awarded contract to construct airport on St Helena Island''"
Basil Read company website, 4 November 2011, retrieved 2011-DEC-24 The airport has a LDA (landing distance available) of for the northbound runway direction (02) and for the wind shear-affected southbound runway direction (20).

Aircraft compatibility

The airport by design can accommodate up to two twin-engined passenger aircraft up to the size of the

Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final assem ...

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

, and the

Boeing 757-200 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maide ...

. The airport has also been visited by a Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Airlink's scheduled service uses the Embraer ERJ-190.

Facilities

There are two main buildings, the terminal building, and the combined building for airport operations, e.g. air traffic control, rescue services, etc. In addition there are some smaller buildings. The terminal building has a café, a gift shop, a

duty-free shop A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

and a restaurant.

Navigation aids

The distance from key destinations, the length of runway available, and the type of aircraft available in the region dictate that air services to St Helena must operate to the requirements of extended twin engine operations (

ETOPS ETOPS () is an acronym for ''Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards''—a special part of flight rules for one-engine-inoperative flight conditions. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) coined the acronym for ...

) which implies the provision of an instrument approach system based on an off-set instrument landing system localiser (ILS LLZ)."''St Helena Access Feasibility Study''"
St Helena Government, Department for International Development, January 2005, p. 104 Such is also required by the terrain of the airport which, in commercial passenger air transport terms, is safety-critical due to its steep approaches, high elevation ( above sea level) and rocky outcrops. Without an instrument approach the provision of a viable air service would be considered impossible. Because of the above, St Helena Airport was equipped with an

instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS) and a Doppler VHF omnidirectional range system (

DVOR Very high frequency omnirange station (VOR) is a type of short-range radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a receiving unit to determine its position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network ...

) supplied by

Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Pari ...

. Further to that

Honeywell Aerospace Honeywell Aerospace is a manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, as well as a producer of auxiliary power units (APUs) and other aviation products. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a division of the Honeywell International conglom ...

supplied a ''SmartPath'' ground-based augmentation system (GBAS), a technology that augments

global positioning system The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite ...

(GPS) signals to make them suitable for precision approach and landing. It overcomes many of the limitations of

s (ILS) traditionally used by airports to guide aircraft as they approach the runway.

References

External links

Saint Helena Access official website

Shelco website

DFID Website on air access
{{authority control Airports in Saint Helena Airports established in 2016 2016 establishments in Africa