St Helena setback

Flights by Airlink (South Africa) to St Helena are back in the news after authorities in Namibia denied fifth-freedom traffic rights for the airline to uplift passengers from Cape Town to fly them to the South Atlantic island using Windhoek International as the embarkation point.

Airlink planned to use the rights to add passengers to its flights between Johannesburg and St Helena, which uses the Namibian capital as a technical stop on both sectors of the return service.

The airline said in a statement: "Airlink will continue working with the South African Aeronautical Authority to resolve the aeropolitical constraints that have unexpectedly brought about the discontinuation."

The Namibian ruling means that for the time being passengers from Cape Town wanting to travel to St Helena will have to transit Johannesburg, which is connected to the remote South Atlantic island by Airlink’s weekly Embraer EMB 190 service.

Airlink said as a result of the traffic rights issue, return flights from St Helena to Johannesburg would now operate non-stop when possible subject to wind conditions on the operating days and the EMB-190's range.

www.flyairlink.com

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Tom Appleton, Canada

Sounds like an ideal opportunity for Bombardier's C Series with its better range capabilities!