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St Helena Airport development, St Helena Island

22nd April 2016

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Name and Location
St Helena Airport development, St Helena Island.

Client
The British government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Project Description
St Helena Island is located about 1 900 km from Africa, measuring 16 km by 8 km, and is one of the world’s most remote locations, with Ascension Island more than 1 000 km away.

The project involves the construction of an airport on the island. It will feature a 1 950 m high-quality concrete runway, with taxiways and an apron to cater for aircraft up to the size of an Airbus A320 and a Boeing 737-800; a rockfill embankment of about eight-million cubic metres, through which a 750-m-long reinforced-concrete culvert will run; a 3 500 m2 airport terminal building and support infrastructure; air-traffic control systems; a bulk fuel installation for six-million litres of diesel and aviation fuel; a 14 km airport access road; and all related logistics.

The island’s only lifeline to the outside world has been the Royal Mail Ship, the RMS St Helena, which calls regularly at the island. As a community that has no internal resources or an industry to support its economy, the British government has been providing extensive financial support for the island.

The bulk of the capital is spent on maintaining and operating the RMS St Helena. It is hoped that the new airport will address some of the socioeconomic difficulties on the island, boost the prosperity of islanders through tourism and help curb the exodus of inhabitants who are seeking work in Britain.

To assist in completing the St Helena International Airport, Basil Read has chartered a massive Thai cargo vessel, the NP Glory 4 from NP Marine for 36 months to transport fuel, materials and plant to and from the island.

Value
The project, funded by the DFID, was valued at £250-million, but the total value of the project for phases 1 and 2 has increased to about £265-million.

Duration
The construction of the first phase of the airport was completed in February 2016. With construction completed, the operations phase of the contract will continue in partnership with South Africa’s Lanseria Airport, in Johannesburg, Gauteng, for a further ten years.

Latest Developments
The Bombardier Challenger 300 aircraft that made the inaugural flight to St Helena Airport (HLE), in the south Atlantic Ocean, returned to its Lanseria base on April 15, following a successful five-day audit run, global business aviation organisation ExecuJet Africa has 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, an estimated 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 was the culmination of six weeks of meticulous planning and coordination between Basil Read, Lanseria Airport, UK regulating bodies and the St Helena Governor’s office, ExecuJet Africa security and assistant safety officer Dries Human has said.

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

This forms 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 means that travel time to St Helena, which previously took about seven days by ship from Cape Town, will be reduced to five hours.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Basil Read (designer, builder and operator); Worley Parsons (lead design and landside designs); Virtual Consulting (airside designs); KMH Architects and LYT Architects (architects); Atkins and WSP (independent certifiers); PRDW (marine designs); Lanseria Airport International (operations); Thales (AGL, Navaids – DVOR); Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment, or SAIEA (environmental); Trotech (bulk fuel installation); BME (explosives); Ohorongo Cement (cement) and Babcock (supply and maintenance of Volvo construction equipment).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Basil Read project director Jimmy Johnston, tel +27 11 418 6325 or communications manager Jenny Smith, tel +27 11 418 6466.
Halcrow project management unit, tel +290 24258 or email Andreas.Huber@ch2m.com.
Babcock, tel +27 11 230 7300.
St Helena government air access office, tel +290 22494 or email tessa.roberts@sainthelena.gov.sh.
DFID, tel +44 1355 84 3132, fax +44 1355 84 4099 or email enquiry@dfid.gov.uk.
Worley Parsons, tel +27 12 745 2000 or fax +27 12 745 2001.
Virtual Consulting, tel +27 12 452 0444 or fax +27 12 452 0583.
KMH Architects, tel +27 11 447 4190, fax +27 11 447 2712 or email arch@kmh.co.za.
LYT Architects, email info@lyt.co.za.
WSP, tel +27 11 361 1300.
PRDW, tel +27 21 418 3830, fax +27 21 418 3834 or email info@prdw.co.za.
Lanseria Airport International, tel +27 11 367 0300.
SAIEA, tel +27 21 789 0251 or fax +27 21 789 0257.
Trotech, tel +27 31 764 1573 or fax +27 31 764 3353.
 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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