After a long absence due to the pandemic, St Helena will have its air connectivity restored from today, March 26th. Ticket sales opened at the start of the year, and passengers keen to visit friends and relatives will rejoice as the shiny new livery of Airlink’s Embraer appears over the horizon today.

According to schedule data at FlightRadar24.com, the service will take off from Johannesburg at around 09:00 local time. It will arrive in Walvis Bay (WVB), Namibia, at approximately 11:15. After a brief stop to refuel, the Embraer E190 will head out from Walvis Bay to Saint Helena (HLE) to arrive at 13:15.

Airlink St Helena
It will be the first time in two years the Embraer has made the challenging approach to St Helena's clifftop runway. Photo: St Helena Airport

Data shared by Airspace Africa shows that the flight will undertake a charter rotation to Ascension Island later on Saturday, returning on Sunday and flying back to JNB later on the same day. Going forward, the scheduled service between JNB and HLE will continue on a bi-weekly basis for the rest of the year.

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The airline sometimes adds on a charter flight to Ascension Island as part of the trip. Photo: FlightRadar24.com

This is the first time this flight has operated since 2020, almost to the day. The last tracked aircraft from Airlink was noted to have arrived in St Helena from its rotation to Ascension on March 20th and returned to Africa shortly after. On March 26th, Airlink suspended all flying, leaving St Helena cut off.

Getting into St Helena is not easy. All passengers (apart from those from Ascension) are required to undergo a 10-day quarantine, either at their home or at an approved hotel. Unusually, St Helena does not currently have any vaccine requirements in place.

St Helena Airlink
Airlink had been serving St Helena since 2017, until the pandemic halted its flying. Photo: St Helena Airport

In the opposite direction, South Africa expects all passengers to be fully vaccinated. That won’t be a problem for the 4,000 or so residents of St Helena, as 100% of the permanent residents were fully vaccinated long before the rest of the world reached such a milestone.

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A return of the only scheduled service

Airlink has provided the only scheduled service to the remote island of St Helena since an agreement was signed on July 21st, 2017. Since then, the airline had been flying weekly between St Helena and Johannesburg, using Namibia as a fuel stop on route. Once a month, the flight continues on to Ascension Island under a charter agreement with the island’s government.

But the Airlink service was suspended around about the start of COVID. At first, the airline expected to suspend the service until the end of January 2021. However, with the impact of the more infections Omicron variant and struggles with vaccine availability in continental Africa, the airline took the decision to keep the service suspended a bit longer.

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The island was without any air service for more than 18 months. Photo: St Helena Airport

In May 2021, ch-aviation reported that the airline was eyeing a return in the third quarter of last year. CEO Roger Foster told the publication that, given the UK’s stance on flights from South Africa, Airlink had no choice but to remain absent from the route until at least August end. However, he had hoped to return to the island from September onwards.

But September came and went, and with rafts of issues still compounding the airline, St Helena remained devoid of a scheduled connection to Africa. Finally, in November 2021, the government of the British Overseas Territory finally announced a restart of the route. At the time, it said service would resume by the end of March, a date which we now know to be today.

Airlink
Photo: Airlink

For two years, almost to the day, St Helena has missed the Airlink service to South Africa, limiting residents’ abilities to visit friends and family, as well as to get supplies from the city. It hasn’t been completely without air connectivity, however, as Titan Airways reinstated its charter service to the UK last November

Titan’s flights operate somewhat sporadically, due to stunted demand. This year, it has flown on January 4th, 24th, February 14th and March 7th. A planned flight for March 28 was canceled due to lack of demand. It’s not clear how frequently Titan will be flying to St Helena and Ascension during the IATA summer season.

new Airlink livery
Opening up southern Africa to the world via Doha. Photo: Airlink

Nevertheless, St Helena’s residents will be delighted to see the return of Airlink to their runway. And this time, Airlink will look a little different – the airline has undergone a rebranding and repositioning since they last saw service, shaking off the ties with South African Airways to become a stronger standalone brand.

Sources: ch-aviation, Airspace Africa