Cape Town flight comes into land after passengers are four days ‘up in the air’

Last Saturday’s flight from Cape Town finally landed today (Wednesday) after repeated false starts.  On at least one occasion the plane got as far as Walvis Bay (the re-fuelling stop) and then turned back to Cape Town.

Today’s flight was the fourth attempt to get passengers from Cape Town to St Helena – attempts which ended with weary passengers returned to hotels for another night and feeling very much ‘up in the air’ about their travel plans.

The reason for the delay was low cloud, making the approach to the runway and landing too dangerous according to safety regulations.  With the runway 1,000 feet above sea level, ‘low cloud’ does not have to be that low.

The winter weather has been hanging over St Helena for several days – at the height of summer and the peak tourist season.

Tuesday’s flight from Jo’burg OR Tambo not only landed on Tuesday but arrived 30 minutes early.  Luckily, there was a break in the gloom on Tuesday.