The latest proposal's taken from The St Helena Independent:
A new bidder for the air service for St Helena has laid out its
plans to DfID and the St Helena Government. The Namibia
Atlantic Aero Partnership (NAAP) is a consortium of four avia-
tion companies based variously in Namibia, South Africa and
the UK. Claiming they are offering ‘the only safe solution to
utilising St Helena Airport as built’ the proposal is based on
using a fast business jet providing an air-link from Walvis Bay
to St Helena. It is understood the NAAP proposal is the only
one currently on offer.
Where From?
Walvis Bay has been chosen, a NAAP spokesperson said,
because the location offers the shortest distance over water
for flights to St Helena. The service however originates at
Windhoek as there are more international connecting flights
from that airport. The service would be, Windhoek – Walvis
Bay – St Helena and St Helena – Walvis Bay – Windhoek on
the return. It is pointed out that apart from connections to
Cape Town and Johannesburg; there are ten flights each week
from Windhoek to Frankfurt for passengers requiring Euro-
pean destinations.
How Often?
NAAP are proposing four flights per week between Namibia
and St Helena with one flight per week extended to serve
Ascension. NAAP point out their proposal to provide a weekly
flight to Ascension is preferable to Comair’s plan to fly to
Ascension once each month. The number of passengers on
a Comair 737-800 flying monthly to Ascension could create
problems because the accommodation available on Ascen-
sion and the allocation of seats on MOD flights for civilians
travelling onward to the Falklands and the UK both have lim-
ited capacity. The end to end journey time from Windhoek to
St Helena will be about four hours; Windhoek to Walvis will
take about 25 minutes. The ground stop at Walvis Bay to
pick up passengers is likely to be only 20 minutes and the
flight time from Walvis Bay to St Helena is normally a little
under three hours. The flight time from St Helena to Walvis
Bay should be about 20 minutes less due to the tailwind.
How Much?
NAAP state that fares charged for their service will be ‘not too
dissimilar to those announced by Comair’. However they also
point out ‘the seating will be aboard an ‘executive jet’ rather
than in an overgrown bus-like airliner interior, it will be real-
ised by most that there will inevitably be a price differential
necessary between the two’. The bus seating arrangement
is a reference to Comair’s 737-800 and all other modern com-
mercial aircraft seating plans. The indications are it will be a
more comfortable flight but it would cost more. While being
careful to point out that the fares charged are yet to be con-
firmed and at this stage in the process remain confidential
they indicate the one-way fare between St Helena and Walvis
Bay should be under £500 with the same level of fare being
charged for a flight between St Helena and Ascension. Re-
turn fares will be double the one-way fare. Passengers want-
ing to travel between Walvis Bay and Windhoek would be
charged about £100 more, one-way.
New Air Service Provider Bids for St Helena Air Link
Vince Thompson
Why an Executive Jet?
Any plane landing at any airport must be able to come to a
stand within the Landing Distance Available (LDA) on the run-
way. The wind shear problem has shortened the LDA as any
plane approaching the runway from the north now has to fly
over the wind shear area before making the final descent.
NAAP have made their bid on the basis that aircraft will need
to touch down (threshold) 300 metres further along the run-
way than originally planned if the area of wind shear is to be
avoided. Planes using St Helena airport should also be capa-
ble of a steep final decent or landing approach after clearing
the wind-shear area to maintain the maximum Runway End
Safety Area (RESA). The RESA is required for safety rea-
sons, in the event of a pilot overshooting the threshold on the
landing approach.
The proposal points out the LDA at London City Airport, 1,250
metres and is similar to St Helena airport and the RESA at St
Helena is far in excess of the regulatory minimum require-
ment for the small aircraft proposed. However the safety
margin for overshoots on landing is not enough for larger air-
craft such as Comair’s 737-800 if their landing approach
avoided the wind shear area. In short, the executive jet NAAP
proposes using can easily operate within the wind related
limitations which are now imposed upon the already short St
Helena runway.
Subsidising the Service
The UK National Audit Report published earlier this month,
‘Realising the Benefits of the St Helena Airport Project’ pointed
out that £1.9 million has been budgeted by DfID to cover the
expected gap between operating costs and fares revenue for
the service Comair were contracted to provide before the de-
cision had to be made to delay the airport opening. NAAP
state in their proposal, ‘the Comair figure would not be ex-
ceeded despite the differences in size and flight frequencies.’
However, the £1.9 million only covers the service to St Helena.
A further subsidy would be required for the weekly flight to
Ascension as indeed it would have been for Comair’s monthly
Ascension flight.
In addition NAAP state they will need financial assistance
with setting up costs. They state these will include, ‘the costs
of setting up and equipping the offices on the islands; staff
recruitment and training; legal and professional fees re con-
tracts; travel costs; aircraft search / inspections / delivery;
crew type-rating and such prior to the commencement of op-
erations, together with a stock of emergency spare parts to
be held on the island.’ Further help will also be needed to
obtain the business jet they have chosen to operate the serv-
ice. NAAP suggests the way forward would be, ‘to purchase
the aircraft (approx £3million) though facilities generally of-
fered by the Bank of St Helena (‘BoSH’) to its customers of
85% towards the cost of tangible assets, with SHG providing
underwriting / guaranteeing of this together with a temporary
(2-year) overdraft facility to be provided by BoSH.’
No mention is made in the proposal of medical evacuations.
As things stand it is not known whether the business jet they
intend to use can accommodate stretcher cases or the re-
quired attendant medical staff, especially at short notice.
Any thoughts?
More can be found in the latest issue @
The St Helena Independent | Saint FM