Last weekend, after five years of construction and controversy, the tiny and isolated British island of Saint Helena welcomed its first scheduled commercial flight. Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean, is one of the most remote islands in the world—a volcanic outcrop with an area of only 47 square miles. According to Reuters, the only way to access the island previously was by sea, “a five-night voyage from Cape Town.” The new airport, servicing the 4,500 island inhabitants with flights from South Africa, was built at a cost of $374 million. Construction was completed in 2016, but test flights ran into serious weather-related problems, pushing the opening back more than a year, leading to the nickname “world’s most useless airport.” Gathered here are a handful of images from the inaugural flight and from around Saint Helena.
The Opening of 'The World’s Most Useless Airport' in Remote Saint Helena
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Read moreA picture taken from the inaugural commercial flight between Johannesburg, South Africa, and the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena shows the cliffs of the volcanic tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean on October 14, 2017. #
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Read moreJamestown, on the tiny Atlantic island of Saint Helena, photographed on October 15, 2017. #
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Read moreHigh Hill (707 meters) in western Saint Helena is the island's second highest mountain. Photographed on September 19, 2014. #
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Read moreA picture taken on October 15, 2017, shows the inaugural commercial plane from Johannesburg before its takeoff at the newly-built Saint Helena Airport. #
Gianluigi Guercia / AFP / Getty -
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Read moreA picture taken from the inaugural commercial flight between Johannesburg and Saint Helena shows the newly built airport on October 14, 2017. #
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Read moreMerrill Joshua, a member of the local government, dresses up as Napoleon outside a house where the exiled French emperor's personal assistant used to live, in Jamestown, on October 15, 2017. #
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Read moreThe Wellington House Hotel, the larger blue building in downtown Jamestown, is named for the Duke of Wellington who visited Saint Helena Island in 1805. Ten years later, Wellington's old rival Napoleon Bonaparte would be exiled to Saint Helena. Photographed on September 19, 2014. #
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Read moreA man climbs the 699 steps of Jacob's ladder rising from Jamestown on October 15, 2017. #
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Read moreA man walks up the stairs above Jamestown on October 15, 2017. #
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Read moreThe suburb of Half Tree Hollow at Jamestown on Saint Helena Island sits on an inclined plateau rising from Ladder Hill to High Knoll Fort. Photographed on September 24, 2014. #
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Read moreHigh Knoll Fort (1874) above Half Tree Hollow on Saint Helena Island could accommodate the entire population of the island in case of enemy invasion. #
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Read moreA picture taken on October 14, 2017, shows Jamestown, Saint Helena's capital. #
Gianluigi Guercia / AFP / Getty -
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Read moreTwo women from Saint Helena stand on the seaside promenade of Jamestown in front of a rainbow on October 15, 2017. #
Gianluigi Guercia / AFP / Getty -
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Read moreNineteenth century warehouses line the cliff beside the old wharf at Jamestown, Saint Helena Island. Today most cargo operations have been moved to a new port on Rupert's Bay to the northeast. #
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Read moreA boat carrying tourists motors along the coast near Jamestown, Saint Helena, on October 15, 2017. #
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Read moreJamestown lies in a narrow valley or "gut" running southeast from James Bay. Photographed on September 24, 2014. #
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