Air travel service provider Airlink has announced that its scheduled flight service from Johannesburg to St Helena Island will increase from fortnightly to weekly as of October 8.
The decision to boost accessibility to the remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic comes alongside the St Helena government’s decision to lift Covid-19 entry regulations from August 8.
“The service will still include the monthly inter-island service with Ascension Island and additional inter-island flights during the peak period,” St Helena tourism head Matt Joshua said on July 8.
St Helena Airport opened in October 2017. Prior to this, St Helena was only accessible by sea.
The only carrier to the island, Airlink had been operating weekly flights to St Helena since the airport opened. After suspending flights in March 2020 owing to Covid-19, Airlink officially resumed its schedule in March this year with a fortnightly flight.
“As the pandemic rolled across the globe, St Helena took extra precautions to ensure the safety of our small community, population 4 200.
“Now that restrictions will officially ease, we are looking forward to meeting the demand from travellers wanting to experience one of the UK’s oldest overseas territories and most remote inhabited islands on the planet,” Joshua said.
After two years of almost no air traffic, he said the increased accessibility would offer a much-needed economic boost to the island.