Medium Term Expenditure Framework > Public Investment Management

New Airport for St Helena - A very white elephant!

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petagny:
The UK Government has spent £285 million on an apparently unusable airport for the remote island of St. Helena. Excessive wind makes the airport too dangerous for regular services by large jet aircraft.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/21/st-helena-islanders-compensation-285m-airport


Here's some video footage of a BA test flight trying to land. Third time lucky!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/video/2016/sep/22/british-airways-flight-struggles-to-land-on-st-helena-runway-video

On the bright side, the lack of activity at the airport has allowed open days for the public!

St Helena Airport’s Head of Operations Gwyneth Howell said:

“Many Airports around the world cannot accommodate Open Days like these due to traffic and operational requirements. At St Helena Airport we believe that we currently have an opportunity to showcase the Airport to the public and promote aviation on the Island, especially amongst the younger generation.
“So far, Open Days have been very well received by the public and, during the last one, we had almost 100 visitors.”

harnett:
Is that better value than HS2?

petagny:
Hopefully HS2 will at least function, even if the resources could be put to far better use elsewhere on the railway network!

The airport capital costs work out at around £67,000 per inhabitant or roughly 18 times the GDP of St Helena.

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