Runway potholes halt regular Ascension Island flights

[EC]

Eight hundred residents on the British-run Ascension Island will not be able to get a regular flight off the island until at least 2019 because of potholes on the only runway, a travel agency has said.

Ascension becomes the second British South Atlantic outpost unable to provide a regular way on and off the island, after plans to open a newly built £250m runway on St Helena were suspended because of strong winds that make landing planes dangerous.

RAF engineers have visited Ascension to examine what are described as “significant problems” with the runway there. The issue will also disrupt travel between the UK and the Falkland Islands, as those flights have routinely stopped at Ascension.

The fiasco over the new runway on St Helena has already led to virulent criticism by the public accounts committee in Westminster of bungled decision-making and misuse of taxpayers’ money.

In a statement on its Facebook site, the Ascension Islands Travel Agency (AITA), the island’s only travel agency, said it was unable to say when regular flights to and from Ascension Island might resume, or when any interim arrangement might be put in place.

“We do not expect South Atlantic Airbridge flights (operating with the Voyager aircraft) to recommence before 2019/20,” it said.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/02/runway-potholes-halt-regular-ascension-island-flights

[Suppressed]

Wow!

Might as well go to Tristan da Cunha!

[Oceander]

What about seaplanes?

[Suppressed]

What about seaplanes?

It's 1,000 miles to Africa.  And remember, you have to carry fuel for both there and back, so your range is about 40%.

[Oceander]

It's 1,000 miles to Africa.  And remember, you have to carry fuel for both there and back, so your range is about 40%.

So how do the land planes get refueled?

[Suppressed]

So how do the land planes get refueled?

There are no land planes to Tristan da Cunha.

But I guess you might be referring to Ascension Island (duh!).  In that case, yes, there's fueling.  And I'm pretty sure that in the past, they've had seaplane service...but I don't know that there are many long-range seaplanes in the western world available to service them like a land airport would.  In fact, I wonder whether the scientific stations there use seaplanes.  Interesting question.