St. Helena, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, is a small tropical island island of volcanic origin, measuring 17 x 10 kilometres (11 x 6 miles) and is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, even if the island is almost 7,000 kilometres (4,670 miles) away. It is one of the most remote places on earth. The closest landmass is Africa, roughly 2,000 kilometres (1,333 miles) away from the island. Cargo, mail and equipment transportation limitations make life for the residents of St. Helena difficult and when the aging British ship, the RMS St Helena, broke down in 1999, the 4,000 residents of St. Helena were stranded with no means of coming or going and with no delivery of vital supplies because this ship was the island’s only transportation to the mainland. It was decided to finally construct a green field airport, an airport built from scratch on an undeveloped site, on St. Helena and replace the ship as the main access provider to the island. After many years of negotiations and planning, the project commenced in 2012 with a budget of roughly £ 240 million (398 million USD, 300 million Euro), scheduled to be completed in 2016.
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