JSE-listed airliner Comair is gearing up for the opening of an historic new route to the south Atlantic island of Saint Helena with a $47-million acquisition of a new Boeing 737-800.

Saint Helena, which has just over 4 000 inhabitants and is best-known for having been the place where Napoleon Bonaparte was detained, exiled and died in the early nineteenth century, is currently only accessible by means of a five-day voyage from Cape Town.

CEO Erik Venter said on Monday that Comair was still awaiting final certification of the new £254-million airport, which had been built by South African contractor Basil Read and would be operated in partnership with South Africa’s Lanseria Airport. However, he was optimistic that the inaugural flight should take place by May.

British Airways, operated by Comair, would be offering a once-a-week service to the island and would be deploying the new aircraft on South African domestic routes in between those trips. “We intend working this aircraft very hard,” Venter said, indicating that it would be flying, on average, between seven and nine hours daily.

The 160-passenger aircraft is the seventh of eight new Boeings being added to Comair’s 26-aircraft fleet in a bid to improve fuel efficiency and lower carbon emissions. It would also add some additional capacity in the form of additional seating and the extended flying time associated with a new aircraft.

The plane, which includes new engine technology and vertical wingtip extensions to reduce drag and provide lift, would also reduce carbon emissions per passenger by 25%.

Designated ZS-ZWG, Comair took delivery of the aircraft from Seattle, in the US, in late February.

Besides the Saint Helena route, the acquisition also coincided with Comair’s new code-share agreement with Qatar Airways, which would add five new African destinations to the Qatar Airways route map.

Speaking at the Comair announcement in Sandton, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom described the acquisition as a vote of  “sorely needed” confidence in the domestic aviation sector and the tourism industry.

He also welcomed competition in a sector still dominated by the financially distressed State-owned South African Airways, arguing that rivalry was critical to bolstering regional connectivity, as well as improving customer choice and service.

Forecasting a major recovery in the tourism market in 2016 in light of the decline in the rand, improving visa facilitation and the waning of the Ebola crisis, the Minister urged others in the sector to prepare for higher tourist volumes.

“We are poised for a brilliant year . . . with 2016 to put us back on a growth path,” Hanekom said, adding that he expected tourist figures to rival and/or beat those last recorded in 2013.

He drew particular confidence from the recovery recorded in the last three months of 2015 and from forward-booking figures he was receiving from the industry.