The Bombardier Challenger 300 aircraft that made the inaugural flight to St Helena Airport (HLE), in the south Atlantic Ocean, returned to its Lanseria, Johannesburg, base on Friday, following a successful five-day audit run, global business aviation organisation ExecuJet Africa said.

The ExecuJet aircraft, which on April 10 became the first jet to land at the new HLE airport, was chartered by South African construction firm Basil Read and carried the crew that undertook the new airport’s certification process required for the green light for commercial flights to start to the remote island some 2 000 km from Africa.

Led by senior aerodrome inspector Justin Rothwell, a team of five Air Safety Support International (ASSI) representatives were among the regulating personnel who conducted an on-site audit of HLE.

While there, the Bombardier jet was used to carry out several audit flights to ensure the smooth and safe running of air traffic control and various other safety aspects at the airport.

The flight to St Helena Island, which was more than 2 050 nautical miles from Johannesburg, was the culmination of six weeks of meticulous planning and coordination between Basil Read, Lanseria Airport, UK regulating bodies and St Helena’s Governor’s office, said ExecuJet Africa security and assistant safety officer Dries Human.

Lanseria Airport, in partnership with Basil Read, would manage HLE’s operations and airspace for a period of ten years, while providing reliable air services to the island.

This formed part of the UK’s commitment to maintain access to St Helena and increase tourism, with the government’s Department for International Development funding the £265-million project.

The establishment of the airport meant that travel time to St Helena, which generally took around seven days by ship from Cape Town, would be reduced to five hours.

ExecuJet’s Challenger 300 departed St Helena on Friday morning with the ASSI team, who would now return to the UK and issue its formal response regarding certification of HLE.

Switzerland-headquartered ExecuJet has operations in six regions, namely Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.