South African private-sector airline Airlink and the government of the British Overseas Territory of St Helena have jointly announced that the carrier will resume scheduled air services between Johannesburg and the island in late March next year. The exact date, and when it will again be possible to buy tickets for the restored service, should be announced next month.
The resumed Airlink service will be run fortnightly. In addition, once a month the airline will operate a service between St Helena and another British territory, Ascension Island. The airline employs its Embraer E-Jets on such long-range routes.
During the four months between now and the resumption of scheduled flights to St Helena, stakeholders will work with Airlink to ensure that everything will be ready for the restart of operations between the island and South Africa. “Thanks are extended to Airlink for their ongoing support and commitment during these difficult times,” affirmed the St Helena government, in a statement.
The Airlink service was suspended in March 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, St Helena’s air connectivity with the outside world has been maintained using charter flights, operated by Titan Airways, from Stansted Airport in the UK (via Accra in Ghana). Titan will continue with these flights from now until March.
Titan has generally operated these charter flights at a rate of one or two a month (there will be two flights in January, but only one in February, for example). The Titan charter flight scheduled for March 28 has been cancelled, due to lack of demand. Those passengers booked on this flight can shift to the early March flight or wait a little and transfer to an Airlink flight. The St Helena government has thanked Titan “for their continued support”, being “instrumental in maintaining access” to the island territory.