CT4SH (Cape Town for St. Helena)

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I submitted the following letter to both newspapers this week:

Dear Sir,

The delay in the opening of our airport to commercial flights gives us an opportunity to re-visit one of the bad decisions made in the haste to rush air access into being for May 2016.  And this one has got nothing to do with wind or runway alignment.  I’m talking about the decision to route our primary air service to Johannesburg, rather than Cape Town.

Cape Town has been St. Helena’s point of entry on the African continent since the British seized it^{[i.e. the Cape]} from the Dutch in 1806 - around two hundred years ago.  The British Empire ships, Union Castle Line and both the first and second RMS St. Helenas all called there.  It is familiar territory for Saints.  Many Saints have relatives living in and around Cape Town and there is a comprehensive infrastructure for welcoming and supporting visiting Saints, whether on route to the rest of the world or on medical.  None of this exists in Johannesburg.  Johannesburg, for Saints, is as alien as Kabul (and possibly nearly as dangerous).  Cape Town has a much lower crime rate than Johannesburg.  For Saints, the only sensible choice is to run flights to Cape Town.

We are told that the international tour operators charged with bringing the supposed 30,000 tourists per annum to St. Helena and thereby saving our economy, removing our dependency on the UK for financial support and making us all rich, prefer Johannesburg.  Their preference would seem to have been the reason, possibly the only reason, behind the Johannesburg decision.  But let’s examine this more closely.

Yes, Johannesburg airport has lots of international connections, but so does Cape Town. You can fly daily between Cape Town and both London and Frankfurt, two of Europe’s biggest hubs, and there are regular flights from Cape Town to many other world destinations, moving nearly 10 million passengers per annum.  Cape Town is South Africa’s second largest airport; not quite as big as Johannesburg, but not small either.

And aren’t the majority of these tourists supposed to be coming from South Africa anyway?  Isn’t that why direct flights to Europe were abandoned in favour of the South African hub?  To a South African, Cape Town or Johannesburg makes very little difference.  If you live closer to Johannesburg, there are cheap, frequent shuttle flights to Cape Town or even the train.  Nobody is going to refuse to visit St. Helena simply because they have to fly from Cape Town rather than Johannesburg.  The Johannesburg decision simply does not add up.

With a rumoured three-year delay in opening the airport for commercial flights the existing contract with Comair must be all but dead and should not handicap our thinking.  There is plenty of time to set up a new contract with a more sensible African destination.

The rationale for selecting Johannesburg was, frankly, as faulty as the airport’s runway layout.  Our Government can do little about the latter but the former is definitely within its grasp.  Let’s think again – and choose Cape Town.

Yours sincerely,

John Turner, Frith’s Cottage, Napoleon St.

Here are a few other relevant facts:

• The Cape Town International Airport was among the winners of the World Travel Awards for being Africa's leading airport. [Wikipedia]
• Cape Town International Airport recently opened a brand new central terminal building that was developed to handle an expected increase in air traffic as tourism numbers increased in the lead-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Other renovations include several large new parking garages, a revamped domestic departure terminal, a new Bus Rapid Transit system station and a new double-decker road system. The airport's cargo facilities are also being expanded and several large empty lots are being developed into office space and hotels. [Wikipedia]
• Cape Town is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. [Wikipedia]
• Cape Town is not only the most popular international tourist destination in South Africa, but Africa as a whole. This is due to its good climate, natural setting, and well-developed infrastructure. [Wikipedia]
• In November 2013, Cape Town was voted the best global city in The Daily Telegraph's annual Travel Awards. [Wikipedia]