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.
AITA added that flights to the Falklands would be rerouted because the Airbus A330 Voyager used on the route was too heavy for the damaged runway. “The decision to reroute means the South Atlantic Airbridge will no longer call at Ascension Island en route to the Falkland Islands for the foreseeable future.”
It said the Foreign Office was seeking interim options and that until a proper service could be restored only essential personnel and goods were likely to be allowed to travel.
The RAF South Atlantic bridge is now using Dakar, Senegal, as an intermediate stopover to the Falklands.
The volcanic Ascension Island is part of the St Helena British overseas territory and is situated about 1,000 miles from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles from the coast of Brazil. It has been used as a base by the US air force and by UK government communications.
The Ascension Island government is planning for the ageing Royal Mail ship the St Helena to be the main means of transport. The same ship is already earmarked as the main interim means of travel in and out of St Helena, pending resolution of the problems with wind shear on its new runway.
But this month the ship was declared out of order, twice ending up in dry dock in Cape Town, most recently due to the left propeller becoming locked in a forward position.
In the short term the St Helena government has chartered a special British Aerospace plane with 60 seats to fly people into and out of St Helena via Namibia. Passengers are required to pay £850.
In a less than comforting message, the St Helena government posted advice on Tuesday stating: “Should the flight not be able to land at St Helena airport upon arrival, it will have two hours of fuel available in which to undertake the landing. The flight could also divert to Ascension Island in the event of an emergency.” It said the plane was light enough to land on Ascension Island.
A member of the Falklands Islands’ legislative assembly, Mike Summer, told the assembly last week: “For those who heard that the Ascension runway may be patched within a couple of weeks: sorry, not true. We all wish, but it is going to be closed for a considerable period of time.”