enicalyth,
Fascintating story.
"The Minister, Clare Short, remained unmoved, explaining to her officials that the ‘whole point’ of her formula was to incentivise the St Helena Government into helping themselves for once, by learning to co-operate with the private sector."
Sounds a bit like what happened at MNI, but to be fair to the islanders there, DFID were not exactly helpful in their efforts to rebuild the tourist trade, as they kept on trying to issues false warnings about the risks the volcano posed to respiratory health.
"Shelco’s selected aircraft to be operated by St Helena Airways, the B737-BBJ, which Boeing have confirmed will be able to operate the full proposed route network including direct non-stop services to London, Paris and the Falklands."
According to CIA factbook, the island's population is 7,415, and the proposals talk about opening up one "eco-hotel" resort - working with the Eden Project would certainly make it interesting.
How economically sustainable is this, and is there really demand for flights from St Helena to the Falklands, or even PAR?
There are plenty of other island outposts with tiny landing strips, so it seems strange that the "only option" is a non-stop flight to London, or are there just no other realistic tech stop options (Lagos???).