Announcement by Atlantic Star Airlines regarding the outcome of the St.Helena Air Access procurement

Under the terms of the St.Helena Air Access procurement process conducted by SHG/DfID in conjunction with Avia Solutions, Atlantic Star Airlines has until now been unable to comment publicly upon the result of the competitive tender process.

Atlantic Star Airlines is of course very disappointed not to have been selected to provide the air service that will link St.Helena to the outside world upon airport completion in February 2016. We are certain that our proposal, with partner airline Icelandair, to provide a weekly service to the UK was both robust and commercially viable, yet respect the rationale behind the decision to choose the Comair offering to South Africa. We congratulate Comair on their success and wish them well in delivering the service and sincerely hope it will provide some of the economic impetus the island of St.Helena needs.

Having invested significant time and energy into building a proposal that we believe offers the best connectivity solution, Atlantic Star Airlines will continue to focus its accumulated understanding and expertise on enhancing the air service choice available to Saints beyond a weekly flight to Johannesburg. We also recognize that the requirements of Ascension Island community will change as a consequence of the retirement of the Royal Mail Ship and intend to explore options to meet this need. The precise structure of any such provision remains under analysis and we expect to be in a position to announce our plans in the near future.

In the meantime we hope that Saints will recognise the value of the scheduled service that has been agreed and will continue to invest in enhancing the tourism offering on St.Helena.

Atlantic Star Airlines maintains its commitment to elevating the prospects of St.Helena Island and its wonderful people.