Transport on Saint Helena
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Helena has no major railways, and most of the highways are on the island of Saint Helena, which has 118 km (98 km paved and 20 unpaved). Tristan da Cunha has 2.70 km of paved highways, while Ascension has 80 km of paved highways. The only major harbours are Georgetown, Ascension and Jamestown, Saint Helena.
There is no merchant marine.
Saint Helena does not have an airport but after many years of negotiation an airport building project has now started due for completion in 2011. An airport was built on Ascension during World War II to be used as a staging point for aircraft being ferried to the war in North Africa. At the end of the war the airport was abandoned, subsequently re-opening when Ascenion started to be used as base for monitoring space launches and ICBM tests. Ascension airport is now known as RAF Wideawake although it is the USAF who operate there mostly. The RAF use Ascension mainly to refuel aircraft flying between the UK and the Falkland Islands. The only way to fly to Ascension is to fly with the RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, England on the overnight American charter, Omni Air International DC10. Civilians are allowed on this flight but air fares are steep. The flight luxury is no worse than any other charter flight.
To transfer from Ascension to Saint Helena takes two days on the RMS Saint Helena.
