St Helena Airport: Lord Ashcroft's Latest

Lord Ashcroft, Leading supporter of St. Helena Airport photographed on his recent visit

One thing which any follower of Conservative politics knows is that Lord Ashcroft is not a great fan of David Cameron. He spent a lot of money, 8 million is often quoted, on the 2010 election campaign, Cameron failed to win a majority, went into coalition with the Liberal Democrats, and failed to offer Lord Ashcroft a significant job. Some say that instead Ashcroft was offered his wish of an airport on St. Helena.

Lord Ashcroft and St. Helena Airport 2nd April 2012

Some ten months ago on this blogI pointed out the revelations of a former airline pilot, Brian Heywood, who had in 2010 written to David Cameron warning against building the airport. Lord Ashcroft has now taken to the pages of Conservative Home to attack the former Prime Minister for ignoring that letter.

I am not a great fan of David Cameron, but I do wonder if I was faced with pressure from a disgruntled, billionaire party donor to build an airport, and a letter from an unknown former airline pilot advising against doing so, which path I would have taken!

St. Helena Airport: Light at the End of the Tunnel?

The St Helena Independent, October 21st 2016

Sometime this afternoon an Avro RJ100 is scheduled to land on St Helena. It will be using the shorter 02 runway, which avoids the major windshear problems which have caused the postponement of commercial flights. This involves landing with a tailwind, which apparently the Avro RJ100 is highly suitable for.

The Avro RJ100 is capable of carrying up to 98 passengers, though this afternoon's flight will have only 15 on board. The plane is being organised by Atlantic Star Airlines, who have long been involved in planning commercial flights from Europe to St. Helena. They have secured the services of two experienced Faroe Islands pilots. The flight should provide valuable information about wind conditions on St. Helena, and it at last offers some prospect of a resolution to the problem.

The flight began in Zurich, and made technical stops in the United Arab Emirates, Senegal and Ascension. Tomorrow it is scheduled to fly to Brazil, then Uruguay and finally to Chile. In the long run maybe it will be possible to make a combined a trip to St. Helena and Latin America. I certainly hope so.

I am keeping my fingers crossed. The Saints have had enough disappointments this year to last several lifetimes.

Postscript : The plane landed at 3.50 this afternoon.

Avro RJ100 arriving at St Helena Airport, 21st October 2016

According to the Governor's post on Facebook the plane took off again and landed into the wind with no problems. Hats off to Atlantic Star Airlines for their perseverance and commitment to the island.

St Helen Airport - Napoleon's Revenge?

A first for St. Helena Airport: two planes side by side

The sight of two planes on the tarmac at the island's £290 million pound airport might seem encouraging. Alas one was hired by the airport contractors, and the other was removing someone for medical treatment.

It is nice to know that the airport is usable, although unfortunately not by the commercial aircraft it was designed for. Small planes can land, but the cost for tourists and certainly island residents would be prohibitive.

The economic cost to the island is tremendous. Its whole future was predicated on an expansion of tourism to remove its dependence on subsidy by the British Government.

The Legislative Council has discussed setting up an enquiry to find out who was responsible for this catastrophic decision. Whether it will ever happen is another matter. It would be tremendously costly, would probably not come to a clear conclusion, and would not in any way help to solve St. Helena's problems. It would simply confirm the prejudices of those who live on the island about the incompetence of the "white ants" i.e. expatriates, who are sent to govern them on what seem inflated salaries.

The problem, as most readers of this blog will know is windshear, which the Prime Minister was warned about at the time the decision to build the airport was made. The Guardian has published a useful diagram.

At some point the Government will have to make a decision: invest a lot of money to try and find a technical solution or build a new Royal Mail ship. The favourite technical solution seems to be take the top off one or maybe two nearby mountains! I have a horrible feeling that that might not end well!

Meanwhile the press in the UK and France has started to give the story some publicity. I would be surprised if there are not a few smiles on the continent post the Brexit referendum about another highly embarrassing British cock-up. Some on social media have described it as Napoleon's revenge, which seems a bit hard on the long suffering Saints.

The Daily Mail has published an image which is I guess worth a thousand words.

The Airport Debacle: "How ever did they win [the war]?"

St Helena Independent, July 21st 2016

I don't keep up with what goes on in Parliament, but the St. Helena Independent has confirmed the conclusions I came to in my most recent post on the St. Helena airport: the extended period of test flights to prove the viability of the design never took place, or to be more precise, they were condensed into a single day in 2006. Also the flights recommended after the completion of the airport were not considered necessary because, according to Baroness Anelay, the new DfD Minister, the runway had been extended by 150 metres. Neither the Independent nor I can figure out how this was supposed to remove the problems of windshear.

In one of my favourite episodes of Fawlty Towers a group of German tourists visits Basil Fawlty's shambolic hotel in Torquay, and at the end of the visit one of them asks how on earth the UK won the war? Following the Brexit fiasco, no plan if the country voted to leave, the Chilcot report on Iraq, no post-invasion plan whatsoever, and now the St. Helena Airport fiasco, I am despairing of the amateurism which seems to encapsulate the way the UK and its dependencies are governed. I can understand why the U.S. Secretary of State found it hard to keep a straight face at the joint press conference held with our new Foreign Secretary.

St Helena Airport: The First Tourists Arrive!

Three Belgian philatelists arrive by private jet - only 9997 more to go

The St Helena Government has announced the resumption of the R.M.S. St Helena until July 2017, over a year after the airport was meant to be up and running. Clearly no solution is in sight for the windshear problems which have caused the cancellation of commercial flights.

I have for some time had my worries about the St. Helena airport project, and my recurring nightmare is that the real future of the island will be as a haven for wealthy people who can afford private jets.

I have recently come across extracts from the 2005 report by Atkins Management Consultants which noted that

The nature of the weather (recording of local variations – wind direction and strength, visibility, temperature and cloudbase – only started in mid-2004) on Prosperous Bay Plain has not been assessed in detail for long time enough. Currently weather readings are being gathered but at least one year’s and preferably three years’ recordings will be needed.

The report later went on to express its concerns about the local weather conditions, and to recommend a series of flights over Prosperous Bay Plain to assess the design before the project commenced.

There are doubts concerning local weather conditions, in particular, there are doubts about the amount of turbulence that could be expected on the approaches (due to the elevated location of the surroundings bluffs). Il is therefore recommended that, regardless of which aerodrome option is chosen and before the runway designed is finalized, a charter aircraft should fly test the approaches to and departures from the intended runway. This would ensure confidence in the final design and may be regarded as part of the design process applicable to St Helena’s circumstances. The most suitable aircraft for this would be the four-engines L 100 Hercules: this could route via Ascension Island for refueling and crew rest stops.

I wonder if these test flights ever took place. I have a strong suspicion that they didn't, but will be happy to be proved wrong.

The future of the island has been predicated on self funding though the expansion of tourism, which it has been hoped would build up to around 10,000 a year by 2020. This is now looking like a very sick joke, with no alternative plan in sight.

Were it not for other more pressing matters engulfing the UK's political class at the moment I think this would have been treated as a major political scandal. Not only has it been a waste of taxpayer's money, but more importantly it is a very real tragedy for the residents of St. Helena, and particularly for those who have invested in tourist related projects.

St Helena Airport: A Serious embarrassment for the Government?

Lord Ashcroft has apparently had to abandon his plans to fly to St Helena in his private jet because his pilot thinks it would be too risky to do so. He has written an extensive article for Conservative Home which makes for far from happy reading. In it he reveals that he has had access to the reports of the pilots who have so far landed on the island, and clearly they make him wonder whether the airport will ever be serviceable.

Although aviation experts are working hard to try to find a solution to the windshear problems, there is a real danger that the airport could become a hugely expensive “white elephant” and a terrible embarrassment to the British Government.

If his fears are correct, this will be absolutely devastating for the island, and even if it is not and an eventual solution is found, it will in the meantime cause very serious hardship for many on the island, particularly those who invested heavily in the expectation of a massive increase in tourism.

St. Helena Airport: Category C Awaits.

St. Helena Airport

The picture of the runway on Prosperous Bay Plain, towering some 1000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, does not particularly inspire me with a wish to fly to St. Helena.

There seems to me to be little margin for error, and the nearest alternative landing place is a mere 700 miles away.

Funchal Madeira - a Category C Airport

Clearly any pilot flying in will need to be well prepared to deal with the potential challenges. The regulations require that the pilot in command of any route must have adequate training for the route and take off and landing at the airports on the route, including alternatives that would be used in emergency. This includes knowledge of terrain, minimum safe altitudes, meteorological conditions and communication facilities.

Funchal: 2000 extension partly over the sea to lengthen runway

Airports are classified into categories A, B and C. Those in category B have issues regarding approach, weather, unusual characteristics and performance limitations. Category C airports pose additional problems in approach/take off/ landing. It is clear to me that the best St. Helena can hope for is a category C. Among those in that category in Europe are Funchal, London City, Innsbruck and Gibraltar.

Clearly once the meteorological parameters are better understood, special procedures will have to be put in place and appropriate training given to those pilots who are allowed to fly in and out of the airport. It strikes me that it will take some time for all that to happen, so it is probably unnecessary to say goodbye to the R.M.S. St. Helena just yet.

St Helena Airport: To Be or Not To Be? That still seems to be the question.

St Helena Independent 13th May 2016

Another confusing week goes by and still we are no clearer as to when/if commercial aircraft will be able to use the new airport than at the time of my previous posting on the subject. The St Helena Independent on its front page has a photo which perhaps suggests a solution!

First the good news. The airport has received certification

Another major milestone for St Helena Airport was achieved yesterday afternoon, Tuesday 10 May 2016, when Air Safety Support International (ASSI) issued an Aerodrome Certificate to St Helena Airport - having been satisfied that the Airport infrastructure, aviation security measures and air traffic control service complies with international aviation safety.

So far so good. Then we are informed that this certification is valid only until November 9th 2016, at which point it will need to be re-certified. This apparently has nothing to do with the wind problem, and one rightly asks what will happen if commercial flights have not even begun by that date? 

The official update dated 9th May is worth studying for clues:

Work is now underway to gather and analyse data and put in place mitigation measures to deal with turbulence and wind shear at St Helena Airport - to ensure the safe operation of regular passenger flights. The safety of aircraft and passengers is, of course, paramount.

At present there are no plans to extend the service of R.M.S. St Helena which will shortly be on its way to London, but SHG

will ensure passenger and freight access to St Helena & Ascension. The Governor is chairing high level meetings twice a week to work on access to the islands.

The question of medical access is also being examined: presumably medical flights will involve smaller planes which will not run into the same problems as larger commercial aircraft?

Then we come to the real issue:

Specific steps are being taken to address turbulence and wind shear at the Airport, involving analysis of all available and new data, including weather data, plus formal reports from pilots of all aircraft that have landed at St Helena Airport. Reports on the strength of wind conditions will be maintained and regularly updated and consideration will be given to installing specialised wind measuring equipment Computer modelling is also being developed to test different scenarios, and some wind tunnel work may also be carried out.

I wonder how many planes have so far landed on the new airport, and therefore how extensive is the date set on which modelling is to be based?

The statement ends with an assurance that all parties are working flat out to commence commercial flights at St Helena Airport at the earliest possible opportunity and that the public will be kept fully informed.

I can't help feel a little sorry for the new Governor who must have expected a Royal Visitor at Plantation House for the grand ceremonial opening of the new airport, but is instead faced with a host of problems which neither she nor anybody else in the St. Helena or Westminster Governments expected, because nobody would listen to Brian Heywood the retired airline pilot who warned the Prime Minister back in 2010. I am even more sorry for those who have invested time and money in preparation for the expected influx of tourists.

I am also a little surprised that the press in the UK has largely ignored this problem. But things closer to home are perhaps not quite going according to plan either.

The Disturbing Story of St. Helena Airport: No Happy Ending Yet in Sight

St Helena Independent 29th April 2016

You really could not make it up: £285 million spent on building an airport; plans made for a member of the Royal Family to fly in for the official opening; critics silenced and an air of expectation as the first plane flies in from South Africa on a calibration run. On its first approach it makes an aborted landing but on the second attempt lands successfully; celebrations all round. Then a few days later the bombshell: the St. Helena Government announces that the airport opening has been delayed because of [unanticipated?!!] windshear problems.

On my first visit to St Helena in 2008 I met a retired British Airways pilot on the R.M.S. St. Helena. He poured cold water on the idea of building an airport on Prosperous Bay Plain. The wind conditions will be too hazardous he told me, no reputable airport will fly in, and he said that he personally would not fly there.

I have often thought about my conversation with him, and wondered whether SHG had really understood the problems that he had raised. Today the St. Helena Independent has published a letter from the same man.

It reiterates what he told me 8 years ago:

The operational problem at St Helena Airport is of no surprise, I’ve been waiting for this to surface since the construction started. There is nothing anybody can do about wind shear, it is a meteorological phenomenon, the airport authority can discuss it for evermore, but nothing will change the local topography.

It appears that the letter writer lives in David Cameron's constituency, and made his concerns known to the Prime Minister:

If an airport is built on the edge of a near vertical 1000 foot cliff the prevailing wind is bound to cause problems. I predicted this to The Independent, to the consultants, and to my MP who is David Cameron. At the time Andrew Mitchell was in charge at DFID and his reply was that the airport would only be “challenging”. To grumble about wind shear at St Helena airport is a bit like grumbling about the heat in a newly built Sahara airfield in the summer, it is entirely predictable.

Our retired British Airways pilot speculates that Comair, the South African airline that was given the contract to fly to St. Helena may simply refuse to do so.

Letter by retired B.A. Pilot to St. Helena Independent

The St. Helena Independent, suggests that in its current state the airport may only be serviceable for small planes, including private jets, that can delay ascent until they are over land and do not need such a long runway.

The decision to build the airport was taken by the new coalition Government in 2010, and at the time was widely credited as being compensation to Lord Ashcroft, a strong proponent of the airport, who had bankrolled the Conservative Party only to see David Cameron fail to win a majority. I blogged about this in July 2010, shortly after the decision was announced, and on April Fool's day in 2012:

April Fools Day 2012

I have long had a nightmare that the result of the airport project will be to provide a landing place for executive jets. It would be the height of irony if Lord Ashcroft was one of the few people on the globe able to fly there.

I have to say that I have got absolutely no pleasure in writing this blog, it is heartbreaking for so many people, and I hope the fears expressed prove unfounded. There is no Plan B.

I have often joked ironically that nothing can possibly go wrong on St Helena, e.g. my post on Atlantic Star Airline last year. I no longer find it funny.

St. Helena Airport Update

Flight departure board, O.R. Tambo International Airport Johannesburg

Today for the first time St. Helena's name appeared on an airline departure board. A British Airways Boeing 737-800 registration ZS-ZWG, operated by Comair, the actual plane that will be used when commercial flights begin, left Johannesburg and arrived at St Helena this morning.

The Boeing 737-800 making its first landing on St. Helena

This is indeed an historic day for St. Helena, but for my part one tinged with a little sadness.

I feel very privileged to have been able to visit (twice) on the RMS St. Helena before the obliteration of the island's historic isolation.

I do not relish the thought of hen parties and stag nights at Longwood, though I appreciate the importance to the islanders of having quicker access to the medical facilities that South Africa has always provided.

As to the supposed aim of the project, to make the island financially independent from the UK Government, I remain a sceptic.

I am also fearful of the impact of commercial development on the people of St. Helena and fear that it will in time lead to an exodus of many of its poorer inhabitants, unable to compete for already over-priced housing with incomers in private jets with very deep pockets. I know though that St. Helena had no future as a remote and rarely visited museum, and I hope that my worst fears for the future of its inhabitants prove unfounded.

Flight No OR1502, Gatwick to St Helena: The Impossible Dream?

On Moday 2nd November at mid-day it will be possible to buy tickets for the first ever flight from Gatwick to St. Helena. The fares are cheaper than a combined flight via South Africa: £1299 economy class,£1799 economy plus; children £799. Prices are for the return ticket. This is a charter flight, and no single fares are available. Flight time is approx 11 hours, with a short refuelling stop in Banjul, Gambia.

The first flight leaves Gatwick on Sunday 20th March. Saints will be able to book a passage for departure from St. Helena on 21st March. The next flights will be two weeks later: Sunday 3rd April/Monday 4th April.

The charter flight programme is being provided by the fledgling Atlantic Star Airlines in collaboration with TUI-fly, which will operate a Boeing 737-800.

Experts on St Helena history will realise that the initial flight number recognises the date St. Helena was discovered. The return flight number will be OR2002, reflecting the date that Saints regained their British citizenship.

Of course the planned first flight depends on St. Helena airport being ready, and as all those who love the island will testify after a few drinks at the Consulate, everything always goes according to plan on St. Helena. Anyway hats off to the enterprising people at Atlantic Airlines who at considerable personal risk are trying to make this dream a reality.

Anyone for a Flight to St Helena?

Article on Atlantic Star Airline, St Helena Independent 18th October 2013

Before leaving for a meeting of the Friends of St Helena in London yesterday, about which perhaps more some other time, I read the above article by Vince Thompson in the St Helena Independent.

Apparently Captain Andy Radford of Atlantic Star Airline is hopeful, confident even, that his compasny will be the preferred supplier of air services to St Helena. At the moment Atlantic Star has no planes, but plans to lease a single Boeing 757.

The proposed initial route is Gatwick or Stansted - Madrid - St Helena - Cape Town, and then back again, once a week, with monthly flights to Ascension.

Atlantic Star thinks that a Boeing 757 is the right choice for St Helena's short runway, and it would propose to adapt its plane to allow it to carry more fuel, necessary given the distance of backup airports from St Helena.

Boeing 757: soon to be a regular sight on St Helena?

The plane would then have a reduced capacity of 120 passengers. Although the 757 is no longer in production, Atlantic Star is confident it can find one to lease. In the unlikely event that the 757 ever breaks down then no worries, Atlantic Star will sign a contract with a company that specialises in providing backup in cases of technical difficulties!

Atlantic Star hopes by the end of 2017 to be able to run two flights a week. So, best case scenario, that would make 240 passengers from Europe per week, and 240 from South Africa, making an annual total of almost 25,000 tourists if all the planes were full, and none of the passengers were Saints or expatriates returning to live or work on St Helena. Those are rather fanciful assumptions, which illustrates just how big a task it will be to get the 50,000 tourists a year that Government plans anticipate. Crucial of course will be the cost of flights, and Atlantic Star anticipates that it will be no more and hopefully less than a current Fly/Sail package between the UK and St Helena, which for the very cheapes berths on the RMS St Helena would I think currently be around £1600 via Ascencion Island.

Atlantic Star's plans require a Government subsidy for the first five years or so. No indication is given of how big this would be, and I am unclear whether such a subsidy is included within the £250 million the British Government has allocated to build and run the airport for 10 years.

Frankly I am a little underwhelmed by this. It is beginning to look to me as if the new airport will have plenty of spare capacity for the private jets and military aircraft that a number of sceptics have predicted. A respected member of the Friends of St Helena told me yesterday that he expects the RMS St Helena to be with us for rather longer than the Government is currently admitting.

I hope this pessimism is without foundation, but anyway we should get a clearer idea of the St Helena Government's plans by the middle of 2014.

April Fools Day: St Helena Airport and The Ashcroft Connection

Sunday Mirror - All Fools' Day 2012

In 2010 the new coalition Government announced that it would reverse Labour's postponement and would spend some £200 million on building an airport on St Helena. This was against a backdrop of unprecedented cuts in Government expenditure and anticipated falls in living standards for most people in the UK.

Amidst the celebrations I voiced my concerns about the involvement of Lord Ashcroft. The billionaire tax exile was apparently annoyed that despite his large donations, the Conservative Party had failed to secure a majority in Parliament at a time when its main opponents were unelectable:

The high profile involvement of the billionaire Conservative party donor Lord Ashcroft - embittered coiner of the homophobic term "brokeback" to describe the relationship between the leaders of the UK Coalition Government - leaves me with a few nagging doubts about the future of St Helena.

Appearing on live radio at the time, Lord Ashcroft was asked twice how he thought ordinary people would feel about this expenditure at a time of Government cuts. After saying disingenuously, that it was a question for the politicians, he terminated the interview.

Following the row about the Prime Minister's secret entertaining of political donors, the Sunday Mirror yesterday reported the following sequence of events, which may or may not be coincidental:

June 10th 2010 Lord Ashcroft invited to Chequers for lunch

June 21st Lord Ashcroft asked in House of Lords "What are the current plans for an airport on St Helena?"

July 22nd International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced the Govt would pay for the airport on St Helena.

Lord Ashcroft has always denied any commercial interest in the island, but he has not ruled it out:

"But who knows? If there happens to be some opportunity that either requires some equity or financing and makes sense, and if I am able to be a catalyst that would help something to happen that might otherwise not have happened, then certainly I'll be happy to consider it."

Yesterday was of course April Fools' day. I wonder who is being taken for a ride?

St Helena Will have Its Airport

So the airport will be built. The full story is on Michel's blog.

We are pleased to announce that the Secretary of State’s conditions have now been met, and that we have today entered into a contract with Basil Read (Pty) Ltd in the amount of £201.5 million for the design and construction of the airport, an additional up to £10 million in shared risk contingency, and £35.1 million for ten years of operation. This represents a saving of more than 20% in real terms from the 2008 price, taking into account inflation and the value of the pound.- Mark Capes, Governor of St Helena

I must say I have very mixed feelings about this. What we can be sure of is that once the airport is built St Helena will never be the same again. I hope my worst fears are not realised. But as Michel's post makes clear, this is good news for the French properties, which will now be far more accessible to those who wish to visit them.

St Helena: "Trouble in Paradise"

One is inclined to take any article, such as that in today's Observer, which portrays St Helena as a paradise, albeit a troubled one, with a largeish pinch of salt. The Observer tries to link concerns about the proposed airport with the recent demonstrations on the island, a connection that I for one have not detected, which is not to say that it does not exist.

The article raises concerns of the outgoing chairman of the St Helena National Trust, Jamie Roberts, who says that the site for the airport "happens to be one of the best sites for wirebirds .. It is a big area for St Helena, and especially important as it is productive agricultural land." Also Martin Drury, former head of the UK National Trust, voices his concern that the proposed airport, tourist hotel and golf course would destroy much of St Helena's "time-capsule character." He prefers a solution modelled on Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel - "tourism without new development" , which is more in keeping with St Helena's character. Whether that would generate the jobs required is open to doubt, although to be fair there must be similar doubts about the current Government proposals.

Certainly one cannot help wondering why at a time of unprecedented belt tightening in the UK this £300 million project appears to be given priority. The Observer seems to be in little doubt as to where the responsibility lies:

Much of the momentum behind the airport plan derives from the long-standing interest in the island shown by billionaire businessman Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative donor and the party's former deputy chairman and treasurer."

Apparently the Observer contacted Lord Ashcroft's office last week, but received no reply.

Coincidentally this week's Independent carries evidence that all is indeed not well in paradise. Grafffiti abusing Governor Gurr, Napoleon, expatriates and the French have appeared on the newly built and not yet opened toilets on Tomb Road.



Happily, as the Independent reports, the overwhelming majority of Saints appear to be shocked by this apparently premeditated vandalism, but even if it is an isolated incident, it is a worrying one which could destroy St Helena's reputation for what the Observer today calls its "friendly people."

So St Helena will get its Airport - thanks to the "Brokeback Coalition"

So at long last, despite all the cuts that the new Coalition Government has announced, St Helena will get its airport.

The Government thinks that it can reduce costs by shortening the runway - using an engineered material arresting system (EMAS).

The aim is that St Helena will develop a self sustaining economy. Among the conditions which the Government has attached is that

the St Helena Government undertake to implement the reforms needed to open the island's economy to inward investment and increased tourism

Not sure what that means, but fear that the devil will be in the detail.

Clearly it has pleased many on the island.

The Governor and the Honorary French Consul seem to be delighted!

There will of course be some who are not so pleased - there has always been a vocal minority who opposed an airport, and wanted a replacement for the R.M.S. St Helena. It will be interesting to see how the issue of freight will be resolved when the R.M.S. is decommisioned.

Personally, although I can see the advantages of an airport, particularly as regards access to medical treatment, I am a little apprehensive.

The high profile involvement of the billionaire Conservative party donor Lord Ashcroft - embittered coiner of the homophobic term "brokeback" to describe the relationship between the leaders of the UK Coalition Government - leaves me with a few nagging doubts about the future of St Helena.

I couldn't help noticing the following in the Governor's statement about the decision:

There will be many attractive jobs - being an air traffic controller is very lucrative. It is an international job with a salary of over £100,000. The training has been said to take 5 years – so school leavers should be thinking about that kind of thing right now.

At the risk of pouring cold water on people's hopes for the future, I should point out that there may be some senior highly skilled and experienced air traffic controllers at Heathrow and a few other major airports in the UK earning such large salaries, but we are talking here about a small airstrip on a small island which in the future will have to pay its way without handouts from the British Government. A dose of realism is I think called for.

I hope I am wrong. St Helena is a very special place, and the Saints are lovely people who deserve a break. I would be dishonest though if I did not express my fear that the ordinary people of St Helena will not benefit from this development.