Latest news via the Atlantic Star website shows a delay in the opening of the airport.
Atlantic Star Airlines shares news of delay to opening date of St.Helena Airport
November 7, 2015
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Atlantic Star Airlines
On Friday the team at Atlantic Star Airlines received notification from St.Helena Government of a short delay in the opening of St.Helena Airport, originally planned for February 2016 (see below).
The length of the delay has not yet been fully determined but SHG remain confident that the airport will be operational by the time of the official airport opening in May 2016.
It is unlikely that Atlantic Star's first flights from the UK to St.Helena will now take place at Easter 2016 - we will be consulting with our partners over the next few days to determine new dates that will be attractive both to Saints and visitors to St.Helena.
The team at Atlantic Star would like to emphasise that this eventuality was included in the contractual arrangements associated with the UK-St.Helena charter programme and as such the programme remains in place and commitments such as flight pricing will be unaffected by the delay.
We will continue to work with the Airport Access Team at SHG to establish the best course of action going forward and will of course communicate this to you, our friends and future customers, as soon as more information is available.
AIRPORT BOARD GRANTS ADDITIONAL TIME TO ACHIEVE OPERATIONAL READINESS
The St Helena Airport Programme Board – comprising SHG, DFID, FCO and Basil Read – yesterday recommended that it would be necessary and prudent to grant a short period of additional time in order to fine tune the operational readiness of St Helena Airport.
The Programme Board does not anticipate a significant revision to the commencement date for commercial flights beyond the original projected date of late February 2016, but has recommended this pragmatic step now so that we can conclude the calibration works and other preparations for safe and secure commercial operations. Executive Council Members are in agreement, and we have conveyed this decision to Comair and Penspen.
Subject to final certification and operational readiness, the Board still expects St Helena Airport to be accepting commercial flights before the planned Official Opening of the Airport in May 2016.
As before, a decision on when to sell tickets for Comair flights will be made only when the Airport has been certified. To that end, we expect the regulator, Air Safety Support International, to visit St Helena in January 2016 to carry out a full inspection audit of the Airport’s compliance with aviation regulations and that will inform a decision on ticket sale timing.
SHG
6 November 2015