St Helena Airport has secured regulatory approval from Airport Safety Support International to operate at Category 4, enabling limited flight operations following the disruption to normal services announced earlier this month.
The approval follows the declaration on 6 February that the airport was unable to operate as normal. After technical assessments, the aviation regulator confirmed that the airport could not continue operating at Category 6 due to fixed international safety requirements and concerns regarding the operational readiness of the airport’s fire tenders. As a result, the airport was unable to safely support standard commercial flight operations.
Category 4 certification permits the operation of small aircraft, including medical evacuation flights. This restores medevac capability and provides reassurance in the event of medical emergencies. It also enables a viable air transport route for the movement of essential spare parts and specialist technical personnel to the island.
The aerodrome rescue and firefighting category determines the size and type of aircraft an airport can safely manage based on its firefighting capability. Achieving Category 4 status was made possible with the support of the St Helena Government Fire and Rescue Service, alongside additional training for airport personnel.
Authorities confirmed that Category 4 does not allow for the resumption of commercial airline operations. A return to scheduled services by Airlink requires the airport to regain Category 6 status.
At this stage, the only flights cancelled are those scheduled for 7, 10, 14 and 15 February. The situation remains under active review, and Airlink has suspended future bookings on the St Helena route until there is greater clarity on when commercial operations can resume.
Officials are focused on restoring full Category 6 capability as safely and quickly as possible.
