An island called St. Helena is located in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. To say it is difficult to get to is an understatement, though it is easier nowadays as they have an airport. Therefore it is big news when an Airbus A318 visits Saint Helena!
I have written about the airport on St. Helena before, as I found a wonderful documentary about it on YouTube. The Airbus A318 visiting the facility is actually the first Airbus to ever land there.
An Airbus A318 Visits St. Helena
Titan Airways is a UK airline which specialises in short term charters and leases. Where an ad hoc service is required, they are one of the go to outfits for this kind of work.
The airline has a single Airbus A318 which came from British Airways. Coincidentally, it is the same one I flew on board when I took the exclusive all business class BA1 flight from London City to New York via Shannon.
Last week, the aircraft was sent to St. Helena to deliver Covid-19 test kits, medical supplies and additional medical workers. In doing so, it became the very first Airbus to visit the airport.
Above is a ten minute video showing the plane in action. Not only does it land and deliver its passengers, it then goes on a training flight to conduct a series of take-offs and landings for crew training.
Overall Thoughts
As the Airbus A318 visits Saint Helena, the regular service operated by Airlink in South Africa is currently suspended due to the pandemic. This leaves the people of St. Helena island with no flights to the outside world.
You can read the full story about the photos and video in this article on What The Saints Did Next. While people may complain about being cut off due to pandemic restrictions, I think it may be a little more difficult for remote communities like St. Helena. Or perhaps they find it easier as they’re more used to it. Who can say!
What did you think of the video of the Airbus A318? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Bruno Geiger via ZRH-Spotter on Twitter.
Thanks for video!C
You’re welcome, glad you liked it!
I understood that the passengers were medical personnel and flight training crew.
I did hear some were people who had no way to get to the island and that on the return some people went the other way as they had no other way of getting home. Makes sense to me! Thanks for the comment.
Good stuff. I do find it ironic that they are delivering passengers and Covid19 tests. Seems like without passengers they might not need the test kits but that just my lay opinion.
Yes, I can see the irony there, though it didn’t occur to me until you mentioned it. I guess the test kits are for the people on the island more than anything since I guess there’s no other way to get it there. It’s a place on my visit list, that’s for sure!
I was in St.Helena and it’s a beautiful place with amazing people.
It looks like a lovely place to visit! I’d love to go there sometime myself. I’ll have to make sure to do it when I go to South Africa – combine the two.