Atlantic Star Airlines (London Luton) says it is planning to commence scheduled charter flights to St. Helena with effect from Sunday, May 22.
Having recently secured regulatory approval from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the start-up says the flights will operate fortnightly on-board a B737-800 chartered from partner TUI fly (Netherlands) (OR, Amsterdam Schiphol). Given the distance between London Luton and the island, located 1,950km west of the southern coast of Africa, a technical stop will have to be made in Banjul, Gambia, on both in-bound and out-bound sectors.
The launch of the route is, however, contingent on St Helena Airport securing regulatory compliance and certification later next month as expected.
Meanwhile British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) franchisee, Comair (South Africa) (CAW, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), has taken delivery of a B737-800 - ZS-ZWG (msn 40972) - which it will use to operate weekly return flights to St Helena from Johannesburg O.R. Tambo. As previously reported, Comair will also trial run an add-on sector to Ascension Island as part of the flight.
