An interview with Richard Brown from Atlantic Star and news about Ascension in today's St Helena Independent :
Last Friday Richard Brown of Atlantic Star spoke on Saint FM
after receiving the news that Atlantic Star was no longer in the
running to provide an air service for St Helena. When ques-
tioned Richard told radio listeners he thinks Airlink, the airline
which operated last week’s passenger flight, s still in the run-
ning and probably Air Namibia using their A319 out of Windhoek
could still be in the tendering process. Airlink are likely to
use an Avro RJ85, as they did last week. This will require a
re-fuelling stop at somewhere like Walvis Bay and an over-
night stay for passengers at Johannesburg in at least one
direction appears unavoidable. Despite being very disap-
pointed about losing the chance to operate the St Helena air
service Richard made clear Atlantic Star was moving on and
reacting to changing situations.
Atlantic Star are prepared to plan charter flights again to serve
St Helena, as they did after losing out to Comair in the first
round of tendering for the air service. The operating model
they are likely to use will be based on that which was put in
place with tuifly before the wind shear problems brought eve-
rything to a halt. The first priority at present for Atlantic Star
is to press forward with their proposal to provide an air service
to link Ascension with the rest of the world for the next two or
three years; the time it will take for the UK and US Govern-
ments get Wideawake runway back into shape. Richard Brown
emphasised the urgency of providing an air link for the island.
Again the Avro RJ85 or similar was the plane mentioned to
provide an emergency service for Ascension. It is much lighter
than the RAF’s A330 Voyager and requires a shorter distance
to land and come to a stand. For this reason Richard main-
tained an Atlantic Star Avro RJ85 could use Wideawake while
the RAF Voyager cannot. Dakar, in Senegal is proposed as
the destination for Atlantic star Ascension flights as the flights
can connect with RAF flights to the Falklands for St Helenians
who have work contracts there. Links with St Helena could
be by RMS for the time being and later the Avro RJ used by
Atlantic Star could include St Helena in its schedule.
In the longer term Richard Brown said that Accra in Ghana is
the preferred West Africa destination for re-fuelling and Atlan-
tic Star remain convinced direct flights to and from the UK
remain the St Helena air service destination with the best
chance of success. When Wideawake is operating normally
once more it is most likely Atlantic Star will switch their routes
and services to serve UK – St Helena with a re-fuelling stop in
Accra and link to Ascension. It is abundantly clear that many
would-be regular travellers prefer a direct flight rather than fly-
ing further south to Johannesburg and then north again to St
Helena.
Richard mentioned he was both surprised and greatly com-
forted by the reception he received from Saints and others
when he visited St Helena. He maintained any entrepreneur
needs a head for business together with a ‘hard nose’. Along
with that he says there also needs to be a big heart to help
get through all the hard work and setbacks. Atlantic Star said
Richard, is an ambitious organisation wanting to offer a serv-
ice which meets the particular needs of a specific sector of
the travel market. This is not unlike St Helena itself which
has ambitious plans which involve expanding its travel capa-
bility to meet the individual needs of various niches in the
travel market.
The bureaucrats response
On the same day, last Friday, after several days awaiting a
response from someone somewhere in the several govern-
ments and government departments involved in the Wideawake
fiasco The Independent received an email from a spokesper-
son at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In answer to
some questions about the upheaval to the Brize Norton –
Ascension – Falklands airbridge flights the spokesperson’s
offered responses which are copied below.
“As we are in purdah, UKG is limited in how we can respond
to media questions. I’m happy to talk over the phone about
the purdah restrictions and what they mean for media enquir-
ies.
However, I can point you to a recent statement that was made
on travel to and from Ascension Island: (Purdah means be-
cause the UK are having a general election Ascension resi-
dents remain stranded until late June at the earliest)
regarding-travel-to-and-from-ascension-island/
And I can provide the following lines, to be attributed to a UK
Government spokesperson:
”Ministry of Defence (MOD) is re-routing the South Atlantic
Airbridge via an alternative location. This is because the Air-
bus A330 Voyager aircraft used on the route between RAF
Brize Norton, Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands is
too heavy to land at Ascension Island. The decision to re-
route means the South Atlantic Airbridge will no longer call at
Ascension Island en route to the Falkland Islands for the fore-
seeable future.”(We knew this weeks ago)
“The MOD and Foreign and Commonwealth Office are work-
ing with the Ascension Island Government to determine the
feasibility of interim options to enable the movement of pas-
sengers to and from Ascension by air. (Obviously)
I hope Atlantic Star does get a chance to open up a Charter service, as I have said they are the only ones who have taken the trouble to visit and talk to the Islanders whereas all the others haven't.