Comair (South Africa) (CAW, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) will next year commence scheduled services to St Helena after the island's government awarded the carrier a contract to operate weekly services to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo on-board B737-800 equipment.

"The agreement with Comair is for an initial term of three years from the date of the first flight, with the potential for up to two extensions of two years each – a maximum term of seven years," the St. Helena government said in a statement.

Comair will operate the flights under its British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) franchise and not its Kulula Air (Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) low-cost subsidiary as speculated by some sections of the South African tourism press.

Located roughly 2,000km off the coast of Angola in the Atlantic Ocean, St. Helena is in the process of constructing an international airport which, once operational, will allow it to improve its connectivity with the outside world. The island's principal ship, the RMS St. Helena, will be retired when the airfield is commissioned.