Prior to the opening of the airport, the island was only reachable by sea, making it one of the most remote populated places on earth, measured as travel time from major cities.

[14] It was suggested that an airport would extend the United Kingdom's capabilities to carry out airborne missions in the South Atlantic region, such as maritime patrols in accordance with international fishing agreements (e.g., International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas), counter-piracy missions along important trade routes, and also airlift operations notably into Southern Africa.

the UK government's decision to finally go ahead with the airport, after long delays, seemed to be driven in part by concerns over a continuing tense standoff with Argentina over the Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute.

According to a 2004 review by Atkins Management Consultants, the survival of numerous endemic species critically depended on preservation and protection of the location.

Although the St Helena Leisure Corporation (Shelco) was a major force pushing for the airport's construction, its co-founder Sir Nigel Thompson was a former chairman of the environmental charity Campaign to Protect Rural England.

[19][20][21] After a long period of rumour and consultation, in March 2005 the British government announced plans to construct an airport in St Helena, expected to be completed by 2010 and funded by the Department for International Development (DfID).

According to Private Eye magazine, all of the companies tendering for the job of building and running the airport had by late September 2006 withdrawn from bidding for the project.

[13] Approximately £202 million was funded for design and construction by South African engineering group Basil Read (Pty) Ltd, which was awarded the contract on 4 November 2011.

[27] Following the second visit by a Basil Read team (during December 2011) the project manager settled on the island and the first St Helenian citizen was employed.

[31] Basil Read sourced its own ship, a roll-on/roll-off vessel[32] called NP Glory 4 flying the Thai flag,[33] which docked for the first time at St Helena on 11 July 2012 and subsequently provided regular supplies to the island, including cargo and personnel for the project.

[35][37] In June 2013 the 100,000th truckload of fill went into Dry Gut, a gorge which had to be raised by almost 100 metres (330 ft) in order to create an embankment that would finally carry parts of the runway.

A Beechcraft King Air 200, leased from TAB Charters in South Africa, landed on 15 September 2015 in order to perform tests of the airport navigation systems.

[51] On 26 April 2016, a further delay to the opening, without a specified end date, was announced by the St. Helena Government because of concerns regarding wind shear, after the problematic landing by the Comair 737-800 intended for regular flights.

The airport's advocates hope that it will bring growth to the island's economy through tourism, leading to financial self-sustainability and an end to UK budgetary aid.

[60] The first helicopter to use the airport was an AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2 of 201 Flight 825 Naval Air Squadron attached to the Type 23 frigate HMS Lancaster on 14 October 2015.

[citation needed] It was thought that reductions in ticket prices might be achieved by using spare payload capacity on flights to and from St Helena to carry air freight (e.g., agricultural products, coffee, fish).

[73] On 16 March 2015 it was announced that SHG and DFID had appointed Comair Limited as the preferred bidder for the provision of air services to St Helena.

These dates were postponed because of the problems with wind shear; however, Comair did operate a few test flights which concluded in the windshear risk, mainly for aircraft of that size and larger.

This leaves Lubango Airport in Angola, at a distance of 1,300 miles (2,100 km) as the next best diversion option for which every inbound aircraft must carry enough fuel reserve, limiting its load capacity.

While runway 02 does not suffer from a significant wind shear problem, restricting landings to one direction would prevent large aircraft from calling at St Helena.

When asked by Lord Foulkes when the government expected commercial flights would start at the airport, the Minister of State, Department for International Development Lord Bates said, "scheduled commercial flights will begin when the conditions are considered safe to do so and the St Helena Government are able to contract an airline with the right aircraft and regulatory approval".

[81] In December 2016, the Saint Helena government issued a tender for an airline to establish a scheduled commercial service, using the less turbulent northbound landing direction only.

[86] On 22 July 2017 it was announced the airline would operate weekly flights to Johannesburg via Windhoek in Namibia, with a monthly link to Ascension Island.

Beginning March 2020, only residents, citizens or other permitted people were allowed to enter the island, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all arriving had to stay isolated for two weeks.

[101] On 19 July 2020, the first non-stop return flights from Europe took place when a Bombardier Global 6000 flew from Switzerland to Saint Helena and back to France to evacuate workers for a port construction project.

[102][user-generated source] On 30 July 2020, a further charter flight from London was performed, this time with a Boeing 757-200 from Titan Airways, the largest aircraft to have been on St Helena Airport.

[107] The airport was built on Prosperous Bay Plain, on the east side of Saint Helena, entailing a concrete runway length of 1,950 metres (6,398 ft)[112] with taxiway and apron, an approximately 8-million-cubic-metre (280-million-cubic-foot) rockfill embankment through which a 750-metre (2,460 ft) long reinforced concrete culvert was proposed but contractor Basil Read got approval to use an open channel instead.

[116] The distance from key destinations, the length of runway available, and the type of aircraft available in the region dictate that air services to St Helena must operate to the requirements of extended twin engine operations (ETOPS) which implies the provision of an instrument approach system based on an off-set instrument landing system localiser (ILS LLZ).

[117][31] Such is also required by the terrain of the airport which, in commercial passenger air transport terms, is safety-critical due to its steep approaches, high elevation (1,000 ft or 300 m above sea level)[118] and rocky outcrops.

As a result, there can only be two landings and two departures per day (although there are in reality rarely more than a few per week)[122] Media related to Saint Helena Airport at Wikimedia Commons