The undiscovered island of St Helena boasts stunning natural beauty and is steeped in history, perhaps best known as the place of Napoleon’s exile, but also with a fascinating war history with around 6,000 Boer prisoners of war captured on the island.
Britain’s oldest and most remote outpost is more than 1,930 kms from the nearest major landmass and around 1,300 km from any other island. The only connection being RMS St Helena, a Royal Mail vessel that departs from Cape Town once every three weeks.With the island’s first ever airport opening in 2016, St Helena is preparing the groundwork to welcome tourists in larger numbers.South-African airlines Comair Limited has been appointed as the provider of air services to the South Atlantic island, while Mantis Collection has been selected as the preferred operator of the 123 Main Street Hotel in capital Jamestown.This marks an important step in the evolution of St Helena Island, which measures 121 square kilometres in all.Air servicesComair, operating as British Airways under its licence agreement with British Airways, will operate a scheduled service between Johannesburg and St Helena Airport.The weekly Saturday service will be operated using a new Boeing 737-800 aircraft in a two-class configuration (business and economy classes), with the flight time from Johannesburg to St Helena, being about five hours.Comair, through its extensive partnerships with international network carriers operating direct services to Johannesburg, will provide onward connections via Johannesburg to and from St Helena. 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.St Helena governor Mark Capes says: 'I was delighted to learn that the Mantis Collection hotel company is the preferred bidder to manage the new hotel to be developed in Lower Jamestown. I congratulate Mantis chairman Adrian Gardiner and his enthusiastic team on their success. For St Helena this is another strong vote of confidence in our future from one of the leading international luxury hotel groups. Mantis has an outstanding reputation and brings a widely respected global brand to St Helena.Bookings will open for sale later this year subject to the conclusion of the required government and regulatory approvals.
Hotel openingFollowing its recent competitive procurement exercise, Mantis Collection has been selected as the preferred operator to manage the 32-room hotel to be created at 123 Main Street out of three historic buildings in St Helena’s capital Jamestown.Construction is due to start in July this year, and the hotel is expected to open during the first half of 2016.
***************************************************************************************************************************
Getting to St HelenaGetting to the undiscovered island of St Helena in the South Atlantic is as much a part of the holiday as the destination.
It takes five nights on the ocean to get to the island, on RMS Saint Helena, one of the last working Royal Mail ships in the world, which departs from Cape Town once every three weeks. The ship’s timetable means visitors must stay on St Helena for at least eight nights.
The 128-berth liner is a unique blend of passenger ship and cargo vessel, a far cry from luxury liners of today but a unique seaborne experience.
The Royal Mail Ship St Helena was built in 1989 specifically to supply the island of St Helena. Royal Mail Ships are sea going vessels that carry mail under contract by Royal Mail. The RMS St Helena is one of last remaining ocean-going vessels in the world still to carry the venerable title of Royal Mail Ship, held in the past by so many famous British passenger liners, the Queen Elizabeth amongst them.***************************************************************************************************************************