OPERATIONAL READINESS OF ST HELENA AIRPORT

Following discussions between Basil Read, SHG, DFID and Air Safety Support International (the aerodrome regulator, ASSI) – the visit by ASSI originally scheduled for the end of January 2016 has been rescheduled, and will take place at the earliest opportunity that suits all parties.  The revised date will be announced once agreed.

This week, the second calibration flight will complete checks on the navigational aids, which were repositioned to ensure better signal quality and compliance with international regulations.  The data from these calibration flights will be sent to the UK and due to the complexity of the analysis and verification of the results, the final approved flight procedures for St Helena Airport (needed for commercial flight operations) may not be ready for publication until the latter part of January.

In the interim, ASSI have also recommended that a second desk-top exercise be conducted in January between the Basil Read team located at St Helena Airport and the ASSI team in the UK. This will identify any outstanding certification issues prior to ASSI’s rescheduled visit to St Helena.

This information has naturally been shared with the air service provider, Comair, who will now look to reschedule their implementation flight to coincide with ASSI’s visit – as one of the certification requirements is to examine air traffic control procedures with an actual aircraft in operation.

This rescheduling of the ASSI visit will allow further time to ensure full operational readiness of St Helena Airport prior to their arrival on-Island.

SHG

 17 December 2015