It just fits in with the previous, all-knowing issues from the Department for International Development in Whitehall.
Right at the start of all this they asked for fixed-price contracts from UK civil engineering contractors without giving them the opportunity to go and do a detailed engineering investigation. As a result, and quite sensibly, none of the mainstream UK contractors would quote. As I understand it someone in the Govt still feels they were stitched up on Mount Pleasant in the 1980s, which was paid for cost-plus.
Runway length seems to have been chosen to fit a budget rather than for any aeronautical design reason.
They did the trial flight (picture above) to look at the approach with a Hercules (probably the procurement department found it was the cheapest available that had the range) rather than a proper long-range swept-wing jet airliner with different flight characteristics. I wonder if they waited for a nice day for it rather than doing it in the commonplace rain and wind.
They agreed an air route to Johannesburg which nobody from St Helena wanted to go to, ignoring that all the commercial contacts from St Helena had always been with Cape Town.
Now the initial operator feels it's beyond them. I still would like to see some Air New Zealand pilots with experience of Wellington airport come and have a shot.