St. Helena?

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by Jdege

Airport Opening Ceremony Postponed

St Helena islanders want compensation over unusable new £285m airport

Isolated UK outpost in South Atlantic expected to attract tourists but runway is deemed too windy to land planes on

It was due to herald the end of St Helena’s status as Britain’s most marooned but populated island outpost, but instead the airport has become a runway to nowhere, on course to take off as the government’s biggest overseas aid fiasco.

The airport cost £285m to build and was due to open on 21 May, intended to boost the economy of the British overseas territory. Instead the opening has been delayed indefinitely after it was discovered that the wind shear was so severe that commercial planes cannot land, leaving the isolated South Atlantic island without a clear economic future and the taxpayer facing a multimillion-pound bill.

Just caught the last part of an interview with the owner of the Consulate. She is pissed; I do not blame her. I spoke with her last fall. They had high hopes for the future island.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/popup/audio/...tenttype=audio

It looks like only cruisers and delivery boats will be able to visit. Unless you wish to book a trip on the RMS St Helena.

I wonder what will happen to the new harbour that was being constructed to service the airport.

[jackdale]

Link to the story - check out the video

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...n-285m-airport

[AiniA]

We loved St Helena, it was a great stopover for us. On the other hand we were not very taken with Ascension except for watching turtles lay their eggs. To give you an idea of how friendly people on St Helena are, my wife went to do our checkout and the immigration officer gave her a piece of the cake she had made that morning. She also made sure to send a piece to me. That sort of thing does not happen everywhere - or anywhere for that matter. I could see living in the Briars it is a lovely small house. Longwood seemed very bleak to me. Napoleon chose his grave site based on the stipulation that you could not see the ocean from it. Grave is still there even if the body isn't. In a way I hope that the airport never opens since having lots of tourists visiting the island might spoil things.