St Helena Government has signed a contract with GBB UK Limited to conduct an independent investigation into the causes of the airport closure in February 2026 following unavailability of the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) vehicles.
Dr Ross Beesley will be on island from Monday, 27 July, to interview key stakeholders and to review physical evidence. SHG will publish the key findings and recommendations from this investigation.
Critical faults were identified in all three ARFF vehicles at St Helena Airport, resulting in an immediate downgrade from Category 7 to Category 0 and the suspension of routine commercial operations between 6–15 February 2026. This independent investigation will aim to determine the technical root cause(s), assess any systemic or procedural weaknesses, and identify preventive actions to protect future critical equipment availability.
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