World’s ‘most lonely’ island welcomes first commercial flight
johannesburg — One of the world’s most remote places became a little less isolated on Saturday when the first commercial flight departed for St. Helena, a South Atlantic island that until recently was only accessible by boat and where Napoleon Bonaparte spent his last years in exile.
The SA Airlink plane left Johannesburg on a six-hour journey to the British-ruled territory, which hopes to draw more tourists to the deposed French emperor’s final abode, Longwood House, as well as rugged landscapes, marine life and the novelty of visiting a spot far off the beaten track.
The new weekly air service brings an end to what had been the only regular way to reach the island. The royal mail ship St. Helena, which takes nearly a week to arrive from Cape Town, will stop its voyages in February.
“St Helena, where you are a long way from a long way,” tweeted Lisa Phillips, the first female governor of St. Helena and two other Atlantic islands, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Phillips’ social media posts have highlighted some of the volcanic island’s quirkier fixtures, including a giant tortoise named Jonathan that is said to be 185 years old and Jacob’s Ladder, a 699-step outdoor staircase leading from a valley to a hilltop in Jamestown, the capital.
The story of how air travel to St. Helena came about is also, well, unusual. The official opening of the St. Helena airport, built on the island’s Prosperous Bay Plain for about $380 million of British taxpayers’ money, was supposed to happen in May 2016. But a Comair Boeing 737 test flight at the airport encountered severe wind shear, a phenomenon referring to a quick change in wind speed or direction, or both. That prompted harsh criticism of the British government in a parliamentary report that said the failure to foresee the difficult weather conditions was “staggering.”
Larger aircraft can land at the airport but with weight restrictions, meaning fewer passengers. SA Airlink’s smaller Embraer E190 is carrying nearly 80 passengers. —