Saint Helena Island to get air service

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globetrotter
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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

Post by globetrotter »

Was there really a need to change title? when it was started BA were to be the carrier flying there as can be seen from the OP, which does not question which airline will be the first to fly to the place, lets go about changing every topic title which does not match current situation.

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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

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Update from St Helena Tourism:

There was more positive news this week for St Helena Airport following the latest visit by inspectors from Air Safety Support International (ASSI). Formal feedback has now been received and Senior Aerodrome Inspector, Justin Rothwell, and Air Traffic Services Inspector, Sarah Lee, endorsed certification of Air Traffic Services for a twelve month period from 3 April 2017 and provided an open-ended (i.e. not time bound) Aerodrome Certificate. This is an immense achievement and was welcomed by St Helena Government and Basil Read.

It was an intensive visit covering aerodrome and air traffic services operations, both practical and theoretical. The Airport Quality Management and Safety Management systems were also reviewed. Whilst here ASSI examined the three Air Traffic Controllers for competence and their certificates of competence were signed giving them another year of approved operation. Highlights of the visit included a cliff rescue exercise as well as an emergency exercise held at the Airport. Both exercises involved Airport and SHG personnel and were observed by the ASSI team members and the visiting team from the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency.

Whilst it has not yet been possible to commence regular scheduled commercial air services to the Island, operations at St Helena Airport are underway and consist primarily of one-off charter flights and vital medevac flights. Work continues to better understand the conditions at St Helena Airport, including the challenges of windshear. December 2016, St Helena Government released a Request for Proposals to provide scheduled air services to St Helena over a three year period. The closing date for receipt of bids was the beginning of February and it is hoped to announce the preferred bidder in early (UK) summer 2017. Commencement of air services will follow once the regulatory permissions are granted and the necessary practical arrangements are in place. To find out more about ongoing work at St Helena Airport see the Publications page of the SHG website.

Source:
http://sthelenatourism.com/blog/latest- ... a-airport/

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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

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The first passenger flight to St Helena, SA8878 (RJ85 reg. ZS-SSH) has departed Cape Town with a fuel stop at Namibe before reaching St Helena today.
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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

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sn26567 wrote: 03 May 2017, 14:23 The first passenger flight to St Helena, SA8878 (RJ85 reg. ZS-SSH) has departed Cape Town with a fuel stop at Namibe before reaching St Helena today.
And the return flight SA8879 is via Windhoek

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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

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sn26567 wrote: 03 May 2017, 14:23 The first passenger flight to St Helena, SA8878 (RJ85 reg. ZS-SSH) has departed Cape Town with a fuel stop at Windhoek Namibia before reaching St Helena today.
Landing roll out - Twitter video:
https://twitter.com/i/videos/tweet/859873576249413632

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photos: Twitter - https://twitter.com/hashtag/StHelenaAirport?src=hash

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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

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Atlantic Star Airlines (St Helena) and Cello Aviation (UK) were unsuccessful in their bids for the St Helena Air Access tender. Both companies will continue to work towards providing independent air travel solutions for St Helena.
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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

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St Helena government announces that Airlink (South Africa) was chosen as the preferred bidder for the provision of a scheduled commercial air service to St Helena.
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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

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The runway repairs at the alternate airport Ascension (ASI/FHAW) are on schedule, with that airport ready again for civilian aircraft by October 2017.

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Re: Which airline to St. Helena Island ?

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On 21st July 2017, the agreement between the St Helena Government and Airlink (= SA Airlink = a franchisee from South African Airways) has been signed. Airlink can now finalize the regulatory approvals with the South African Civil Aviation Authority, like a proving flight to the Island. Once that's done, the weekly service can start.

The flight will be operated on a Saturday, out of JNB Johannesburg (South Africa), by an Airlink Embraer E190-100IGW (ERJ-190AR). There will be a stop in both directions at WDH Windhoek (Namibia), connecting to Airlink's CPT-WDH-CPT.

Source:
http://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/sa-airlin ... on-island/
https://www.facebook.com/StHelenaGovt/
https://twitter.com/StHelenaGovt

More info on the agreement & provisional timetable:
http://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/wp-conten ... y-2017.pdf

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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

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Weather permitting, Airlink will carry out ‘proving flight’ to St Helena on Monday, 21 August 2017, using an Embraer E190-100IGW aircraft.
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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

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A fantastic view of the landing of the AirLink test flight by Nick Stevens:

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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

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The island of St Helena’s long-awaited scheduled air service to and from Johannesburg and Cape Town is due to start on 14 October with weekly flights by Embraer E190 operated by the South Africa-based carrier Airlink.

Airlink’s weekly service will operate from Johannesburg to St Helena via a refuelling stop at Windhoek International Airport in Namibia. The carrier has also scheduled a service from Cape Town to coincide with the Johannesburg's flight's arrival in Windhoek on both the outward and return leg of the journey.

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https://www.btnews.co.uk/article/12291
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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

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luchtzak wrote: 14 Oct 2017, 13:16 First flight underway! https://twitter.com/AirportWebcams/stat ... 5366636544
Johannesburg-Windhoek-Saint Helena on Saturday,
Saint Helena-Windhoek-Johannesburg on Sunday:
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/zs-yab


SA-8131 14 Oct 2017.png

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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

Post by Passenger »

First flight:

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The whole Island was invited to the party:

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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

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Viva Africa viva!

Newspaper The Namibian reported on 24th October 2017:

A SA Airlink aircraft on its way to St Helena island was temporarily grounded by the Namibia Civil Aviation Authority at Hosea Kutako International Airport on Saturday. The Namibian understands that SA Airlink's papers were not in order, and that the airline allegedly took advantage of a fuelling stop at the Hosea Kutako International Airport to pick up passengers destined for St Helena. The flight had come in from Johannesburg on its way to St Helena, but had used its technical stop for refuelling to pick up passengers flown in by SA Airlink from Cape Town for a connecting flight to the British island territory.

According to the airline's website, flights to St Helena are straight from Cape Town and Johannesburg, with a stop-over in Windhoek. Sources told The Namibian that there is no agreement in place for SA Airlink to land at the international airport for anything except fuel, or for technical issues. Although the aircraft was released later on Saturday, sources said SA Airlink had done a similar thing on 14 October on its inaugural flight to St Helena. Sources raised concern that Namibia could lose a lot of revenue if SA Airlink used a fuelling stop-over to pick up passengers in Namibia. “The passengers are not even going through immigration,” sources said.

Home affairs and immigration spokesperson Sakeus Kadhikwa yesterday confirmed that there was a flight from Cape Town to Windhoek, and another from Johannesburg to Windhoek on Saturday, with passengers disembarking from one plane to board another. He said immigration had been alerted that there would be a direct transit, which did not need to go through immigration. Namibia Airports Company (NAC) spokesperson Nankelo Amupadhi yesterday did not deny nor confirm the incident. The Namibia Civil Aviation Authority's chief of flight operations, Serge Divounguy, and NCAA acting executive director, Angeline Simana, have not responded to questions sent to them yesterday.

Source:
https://www.namibian.com.na/60730/read/ ... sea-Kutako

- - - - -

Reaction from Airlink on 26th October 2017:
https://flyairlink.com/news/capetown-to ... e-rerouted

Capetown to St Helena Service Stopover at Windhoek to be Re-routed

Airlink regrets to advise that its Cape Town St Helena Service with a transit stopover at Windhoek will be re-routed via Johannesburg on Saturday 28th October and possibly in the coming weeks, due to Aero Political reasons.

On Saturday 28th October the Cape Town St Helena customers will travel on flight SA378 departing Cape Town International at 05h45 arriving in Johannesburg OR Tambo International at 07h40. Passengers will be met by Airlink ground staff on arrival at the SAA aircraft, and escorted to International Customs and Immigration, where after they will be escorted to the boarding gate.

For customers travelling from St Helena to Cape Town on 28 October, the St Helena Johannesburg flight will operate nonstop to Johannesburg, arriving at 21h15. The St Helena Cape Town customers will be met on arrival and escorted through Immigration and Customs and onto the hotel shuttle bus service to the Southern Sun Hotel where they will be accommodated at Airlink’s cost for the night.

On Sunday 29 October, an Airlink staff member will meet our customers at 08h00 in the hotel reception area to accompany them on the hotel airport bus shuttle to the airport, where after our customers will be escorted to the SAA check in counters to travel on flight SA323 to Cape Town, departing at 10h10 arriving in Cape Town at 12h15.

Airlink has engaged both the South African and the Namibian Aeronautical Authorities as well as the Namibian Civil Aviation Authority, and a solution is currently being discussed. Airlink is confident that the matter will be resolved soon. Airlink apologizes to our customers for any inconvenience caused.

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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

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Airlink (South Africa) to launch scheduled service from St. Helena to Ascension Island on 18 November 2017.
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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

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Flights by Airlink (South Africa) to St Helena are back in the news after authorities in Namibia denied fifth-freedom traffic rights for the airline to uplift passengers from Cape Town to fly them to the South Atlantic island using Windhoek International as the embarkation point.
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Re: SA Airlink to fly from Johannesburg to St Helena via Windhoek

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Airlink adds a midweek flight between Dec 2018 and April 2019.

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