'World's most useless airport' finally opens

JAMESTOWN: One of humanity's most isolated outposts joined the 21st century on Saturday when the British island of St Helena, home to "the world's most useless airport", welcomed its first commercial flight.
The 4,500 people living here, a British colony since 1658 – most famous as the windswept outpost where French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte breathed his last – might also be forgiven for thinking the day would never come.
There has been talk of building an airport since the 1930s.
The airport, on top of a valley filled in with eight million cubic metres of rock, suffered numerous setbacks and delays as costs ballooned to £285 million (RM1.58 billion), to the horror of the British government.
It was completed in 2016 but the official opening was pushed back after test flights were buffeted by cross-winds, making it unsafe for large aircraft to use.
With Britain mired in financial austerity, the London media were quick to condemn it as a white elephant, or "the world's most useless airport", with a price tag of more than £60,000 for every Saint, as the island's residents are known.
Before the opening of the airport, which will receive weekly flights to and from the South African commercial capital, the only way to St Helena was a five-night voyage from Cape Town aboard the RMS St Helena, a British postal ship. – Reuters