What are the options?
It's looking likely, as far as I can see, that the British Government will have to spend some significant amounts to get the St Helena Airport working as originally envisaged.
The runway is in the wrong position and too short for viable commercial services (e.g. using the Comair 737-800). Sure there are sub-optimal solutions using further displaced thresholds and steeper approaches, but these will not result in cheap access to the island, unless the Government provides a high subsidy to the operation.
So what could be done? First and probably cheapest would be to concrete the rest of the fill over Dry Gut. According to the runway general layout drawings, this would add another 300m to the runway length. Unfortunately, there would then be no safety area (RESA) in case of an aircraft landing late and overrunning the end. However, it might allow the touchdown point to be moved another 200 to 300m along the runway (20) which may go some way to mitigating the effects of windshear.
If this is not considered practicable, the only other thing to do is to extend the runway by further fill of the Dry Gut area. This would be expensive and difficult to achieve. The bypass channel would need to be put into a culvert (as originally proposed) and the fill would need to be found from somewhere on the island. As Prosperous Bay has already been extensively flattened by the airport project (along with its ecology), such fill may have to come from further afield. As for the original fill project, we might be talking about several hundred thousand dumper truck journeys, this time from considerably further away. The work could take another two or three years.
And who would do such a job and for what price? Basil Read may be the only practical choice for the contract, but can you see them agreeing to a fixed price? They may well have the Government over a barrel.
Are there any other possible options? I fear that St Helena may be stuck with a "regional jet" type of operation and the Government with subsidizing things into the future.
At least the new Rupert's Wharf seems to be able to berth ships OK. Small mercies.