A current video from a well-liked aviation YouTuber has me as soon as once more itching to go to one of many world’s most distant airports, Saint Helena. That is one thing that has been on my bucket record for years, and I can’t assist however no less than take into account this as soon as once more. Let me share some background, after which the difficult logistics of touring there…
What’s the distant island of Saint Helena?
Saint Helena is a distant island within the South Atlantic Ocean, about 1,200 miles off the coast of Africa, with a inhabitants of round 5,000 individuals. The island is a British Abroad Territory, and is called the place of Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile and loss of life. Different British Abroad Territories within the space embrace Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Up till 2017, the one solution to get to Saint Helena was by ship, in order you may think about, the island has been very remoted from the remainder of the world. Lastly in 2017, Saint Helena Airport (HLE) opened, which was a recreation changer, since journey time to Saint Helena went from a number of days to only a number of hours. Nevertheless, really working on the airport comes with some main challenges.
Given how distant the island is, quite a lot of precautions need to be taken when flying there, as a result of lack of diversion factors. The island being in the midst of the ocean implies that climate situations can quickly change, and on high of that, winds may be actually sturdy. Consequently, planes at all times must have sufficient gasoline to achieve their closest diversion level, 1,200+ miles away.
When the airport was constructed, the hope was that it might constantly be capable of settle for Boeing 737 flights. Nevertheless, because of sturdy wind shear plus the brief runway, that finally didn’t find yourself being the case, no less than with out a main payload restriction. That’s why the airport is simply served by smaller plane.
It’s value noting that whereas Saint Helena is distant, it’s not essentially the most distant airport on this planet. That title belongs to Mataveri Worldwide Airport on Easter Island (IPC), as that’s roughly 2,300 miles from the closest diversion level. Nevertheless, the airport isn’t in any other case as difficult to fly to, given the for much longer runway, which implies that broad physique jets can fly there.
Which airways fly to Saint Helena?
South African provider Airlink is the one airline working repeatedly scheduled service to Saint Helena, utilizing 98-seat Embraer E190 plane.
On a year-round foundation, the airline operates a as soon as weekly service between Johannesburg (JNB) and Saint Helena (HLE), with a refueling cease on the outbound in Walvis Bay, Namibia (WVB). That cease is simply to refuel, and there are not any pick-up rights there. This flight ordinarily operates on Saturdays (although generally on Tuesdays in peak season), with the next schedule:
4Z131 Johannesburg to Walvis Bay departing 9:00AM arriving 11:35AM
4Z131 Walvis Bay to Saint Helena departing 12:05PM arriving 1:35PM
4Z132 Saint Helena to Johannesburg departing 2:30PM arriving 9:15PM
For these curious, the Johannesburg to Walvis Bay phase covers 883 miles and is blocked at 2hr35min, the Walvis Bay to Saint Helena flight covers 1,407 miles and is blocked at 3hr30min, and the Saint Helena to Johannesburg flight covers 2,290 miles and is blocked at 4hr45min.
For these aviation geeks who need to take this flight, the problem is that you simply sometimes both need to do a direct flip, or you need to spend a whole week in Saint Helena, which is a very long time to decide to that. Fortuitously there are two methods you may spend a shorter period of time on the island.
On the second Saturday of every month, the flight to Saint Helena continues to Ascension Island Airport (ASI), about 800 miles to the northwest. The flight from Saint Helena to Ascension is a constitution flight, so it’s not bookable instantly with Airlink. The advantage of this route is that the plane spends an evening on Ascension Island, that means that after per thirty days, you may fly to Saint Helena for roughly 24 hours.
On high of that, there’s a seasonal service to Saint Helena from Cape City (CPT), which additionally operates through Walvis Bay within the westbound course. The seasonal service is usually in December by means of February, and when it operates, that service is usually on Saturdays, whereas the Johannesburg service is moved to Tuesdays.
Regardless of which itinerary you ebook, be ready for final minute cancelations. Given the danger of unhealthy climate and restricted margins for this service, it’s common to see flights rescheduled.
Talking of this complete itinerary, YouTuber Noel Philips not too long ago took this flight, and uploaded an important video concerning the expertise, together with concerning the flight and his time in Saint Helena, and it’s properly value a watch. He was initially speculated to be there for at some point, however it ended up getting prolonged to 2 days, because of a climate cancelation.
How do you ebook these Saint Helena flights?
Sadly there’s additionally no sensible solution to redeem main factors currencies for these flights. Airlink is an impartial provider, and doesn’t have main redemption companions. Nevertheless, with Qatar Airways investing in Airlink, my hope is that it could finally be potential to redeem Qatar Airways Avios for these flights. At the least I’m crossing my fingers that this turns into potential!
As you’d anticipate, money fares aren’t low cost, given the excessive working prices of those flights, as a result of complexity. Roundtrip financial system fares are sometimes approaching $1,000, whereas roundtrip enterprise class fares are sometimes approaching $2,000.
Backside line
Saint Helena is among the world’s most distant airports, and for that matter, is among the airports with the least industrial service. The airport is served as soon as weekly by Airlink, that means that if you wish to go to, you sometimes have to take action for no less than every week. The trick is that after per thirty days, the flight continues to Ascension, offering a chance to go to Saint Helena for at some point.
Anybody else fascinated by these Saint Helena flights? Have any OMAAT readers visited Saint Helena?
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