Flying into St. Helena

"someassemblyrequired" (someassemblyrequired) 12/20/2016 at 00:38 • Filed to: planelopnik

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RMS St. Helena, Wikipedia User Neil Fantom, CC 2.0

St. Helena is a British territory located off the west coast of Africa. Currently passenger and cargo traffic to St. Helena is transported to the island via a Royal Mail Ship (one of four left in service), which takes five days to travel from Cape Town, or you can alternatively take the same ship from Ascension Island (slightly closer), if you fly the RAF from Brize Norton (you can actually book commercial tickets).

St. Helena has a population of about 4,500, and there’s been a long effort to bring commercial air service to the island. The British government has constructed a modern airport on the island, but service has been suspended indefinitely after test flights with a Boeing 737 identified a possible issue with winds surrounding the airport. Here’s some footage from those tests:

A couple of weeks ago Embraer sent a demonstration airplane to repeat the tests, and had better results:

Here’s an interview with the pilot of that flight:

The last three Youtube videos were shot by Darrin & Sharon Henry, who run a blog at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that’s well worth checking out for information on the airport and on the island. They’ve got a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! up there from a couple of days ago with pictures of a C-130 landing (the first fixed wing military aircraft to land on the island).

facw > someassemblyrequired 12/20/2016 at 02:07

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Getting there may be tricky, but historically, some have found it harder to leave:

Svend > someassemblyrequired 12/20/2016 at 02:35

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The islanders are quite apprehensive of having an airport as they don’t want to become some tourist destination and having visitors damaging the island or upsetting the island’s eco-system.

RAF Brize Norton do several flights to out laying British territories, mainly the Ascension Islands and the Falkland Islands.

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Q. How can I confirm the time of flights leaving from, or returning to, RAF Brize Norton?

A. The Passenger Information Desk can provide flight information about RAF Brize Norton scheduled passenger aircraft movements less than 48 hrs in advance . Information about certain regular scheduled flights may be available up to 7 days in advance.

Have your flight booking reference / flight number ready to assist in finding the latest details about your flight.

Telephone 01993 896050/5861 or Military Telephone 95461 6050/5861

For more passenger-related information about RAF Brize Norton see Air Terminal Information .

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Q. What time do I need to arrive for an outbound flight from RAF Brize Norton?

A. For passengers travelling to Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands, the latest time of arrival for check-in at the Air Terminal is 3 hours before departure.

For passengers travelling to all other destinations world-wide, the latest time of arrival for check-in at the Air Terminal is 2 1/2 hours before departure.

For more passenger-related information about RAF Brize Norton see Air Terminal Information .

pip bip - choose Corrour > someassemblyrequired 12/20/2016 at 07:16

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that’s funny , spend a shed load of money for a useless airport. genius decision that.

ttyymmnn > someassemblyrequired 12/20/2016 at 09:45

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Well, you wouldn’t want to overshoot that runway. Interesting stuff. Thanks.

ttyymmnn > someassemblyrequired 12/20/2016 at 09:51

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For those who might not know where St. Helena is, here is some perspective on just how remote this place is.

Braniff747SP > pip bip - choose Corrour 12/20/2016 at 11:21

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The RMS St Helena isn’t cheap to operate (and it’s subsidized, as far as I know).

In the long run, an airport makes sense.

someassemblyrequired > facw 12/20/2016 at 12:57

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Able is the island that is Elba, except when it isn’t. Then you use St. Helena.

someassemblyrequired > ttyymmnn 12/20/2016 at 12:59

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Thanks - I should have included this in the article. Appreciate you adding it here.

Svend > Braniff747SP 12/20/2016 at 13:06

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It’s paid for by Royal Mail and passengers pay for carriage towards it.

Similar to the aircraft from Brizey. It’s a government aircraft but civvys pay to fly on it (the ticket is subsidised by the U.K. government also to help keep the islanders connected to the outside world. Some South American countries won’t or get harassed into not to fly to the Falkland Islands).

ttyymmnn > someassemblyrequired 12/20/2016 at 13:09

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Just yesterday, I was writing about the Handley Page Victor, and how it refueled the Vulcan bombers flying from Ascension Island during the Falklands War. The length of those missions was only surpassed in 1991, when B-52s flew from Louisiana to bomb Iraq.

Svend > ttyymmnn 12/20/2016 at 13:15

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Gibraltar is another runway you don’t want to miss.

The runway and too the left is Gib, to the right is Spain and to the top and bottom is the sea.

Oh and for good measure there is a main road crossing the middle of it.

(view from the Gibraltarian side)

ttyymmnn > Svend 12/20/2016 at 13:21

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I like how they have to stop traffic when the air planes are using the strip.

Svend > ttyymmnn 12/20/2016 at 13:37

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I’ve not been back to Gib in many years but my mother says I used to love sitting on the car bonnet and watching the aircraft come in to land.

ttyymmnn > Svend 12/20/2016 at 13:38

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I would’ve been sitting right there with you.

someassemblyrequired > pip bip - choose Corrour 12/20/2016 at 13:40

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As always, Oppo is ahead of the curve. This just popped up in my Twitter feed:

http://atwonline.com/airports-routes/uk-lawmakers-lambast-new-st-helena-airport

someassemblyrequired > ttyymmnn 12/20/2016 at 13:45

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I love the Victor - it’s so hideously beautiful.

ttyymmnn > someassemblyrequired 12/20/2016 at 13:57

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Yup. So ugly it’s beautiful.

Braniff747SP > Svend 12/20/2016 at 18:03

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Right, but I’m fairly sure the Royal Mail - although now private - gets state money to run the thing, to provide “essential services” and whatnot.

Svend > Braniff747SP 12/21/2016 at 02:17

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Apparently the RMS St. Helena though named RMS is not a Royal Mail Group vessel and is operated on behalf of Royal Mail Group PLC by St. Helena Line Ltd. She was due to be retired and sold off as of July 2016 but has been extended to July 2017 due to the issues with the new airport.

The vessel wouldn’t be subsidised by the U.K. government to Royal Mail but by Royal Mail Group and the U.K. government to the operator, St. Helena Line Ltd.

When the airport takes off (excuse the pun, Lol) a British Airways flight would be subsidised by Royal Mail Group to carry mail to the island similar to how flights in the U.K. and abroad are subsidised by Royal Mail to carry mail.

The video of the BA flight landing on the runway was actually a Comair Limited, South African aircraft which is a franchisee of BA and part of the OneWorld Group.

It’s all very convoluted really.

Bonus 777-200 with Panda Face to mark the new route back in 2013 from London to Chengdu. For sh*ts and giggles.