CAMP residents in the Falkland Islands have expressed they are feeling more isolated by the reduced FIGAS operation, and with the East/West ferry Concordia Bay due to lay up for routine maintenance at the end of July, the ability to move around the islands will become further reduced.
Decreased winter flying hours got underway this week at the Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS) which will remain in place until September 13, 2026.
Flights will operate as normal on four days each week with no-fly days being Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
In previous winters flying has been reduced to five days per week, and the extra day this winter is to be dedicated to maintenance on the Britten Norman Islander fleet of five aircraft.
A press release explained that the revised programme will provide dedicated, uninterrupted time for engineering teams to complete essential 1,000 hour aircraft maintenance and corrosion rectification, ensuring aircraft availability for the 2026/27 peak season.
“The aim is to reduce overall airframe hour usage by concentrating flying into fewer days, improving efficiency and helping preserve fleet availability.
“Multiple aircraft are approaching scheduled maintenance requirements, and undertaking this work during the winter period reduces the risk of disruption during periods of higher demand.”
The idea of further reduced hours has been met with some concern from Camp residents.
Fox Bay resident Nigel Knight summed it up as, “the most vulnerable and less affluent members of the Community being penalised because of poor judgement and bad management by highly paid executives.”
Mr Knight said he thought the crisis could have been avoided completely with sensible forward planning.
He said there appeared to be two contributory factors: Corrosion of airframes being compounded by aircraft being moored outside in all weathers over an extended period of time and the lack of engineers to work on rectifying the corrosion issues and carry out routine maintenance.
Was the latter due to low pay and unsocial working hours or something else, asked Mr Knight, who concluded, “there seems to be no shortage of extra funds required to pay for project overspends and eye watering amounts paid for consultancy fees.”
Deputy Director of Development and Commercial Services, Steve Dent told Penguin News there are currently less engineers employed than in previous years. “The posts are in place but can’t be filled. We have an increased cohort of engineers, four mechanical and two avionics engineers. “The two avionic engineering posts are vacant awaiting two local apprentices to complete their licences. We have two mechanical licence vacancies. There is a global dearth of appropriately qualified and competent staff which has thwarted our attempts to successfully recruit.”
Penguin News questioned whether it was an HR issue behind the lack of recruitment?
Mr Dent said no. “However, it can be argued that our engineers are paid significantly lower when compared with contemporaries in other countries and recruitment campaigns over the last two years have highlighted the issue.”
He assured there were plans being considered by FIG “on how to counteract this.”
Louise Pole-Evans from Saunders Island, a family run sheep farm and popular tourism destination, said reduced capacity was a “step backwards.”
As a member of several committees which hold meetings on Wednesdays so attending means a four day absence for her.
Isolation can cause mental health issues for some people and the lack of freight to Stanley impacts on secondary income for Camp residents, said Ms Pole-Evans, adding that reduced transport facilities was not good for businesses already in Camp or encouraging for those wishing to set up new business.
She recognised the public funding and subsidies involved in providing transport, but, she said, “imagine the reaction if everyone was told that they could only drive on the roads for four days a week.” Ms Pole-Evans questioned what had changed so that FIGAS operated less aircraft than 25 years ago, but were not able to keep them in the air?
Mr Dent told Penguin News that the remaining aircraft are 25 years older and require much more maintenance.
“The present confluence of aircraft inspections is directly related to the COVID pandemic which caused delays to aircraft procurement and severely disputed the spare parts logistic chain, both up and down stream of Britten-Norman Aerospace Ltd. A lack of aircraft increases utilisation resulting in a higher frequency of inspections.
“In other words, aircraft arrive at their major inspections faster than normal. Furthermore, despite global logistic chains showing signs of recovery there are still many pinch points which cause us operational issues. More recently, the unfortunate international shipping delay prevented access to much needed spare parts and compounded the current situation.”
Meanwhile in the south of West Falkland, Kerri Jamieson is slightly more laid back about the current situation.
Kerri and husband Brian operate Warrah Workshop, possibly the most remote embroidery business in the world from their home at South Harbour, near Port Stephens.
Mrs Jamieson said that on a personal level the winter flying hours were “inconvenient” for getting into town for appointments, however from a business point of view she said, “we’re used to adapting to last minute changes due to weather etc, so the addition of an extra no fly day is no great trial,” and noted that their products are non-perishable.
It is far more important to the Jamiesons that FIGAS keep flying into the next season, with extra maintenance days, taken when demand is reduced.
“As a business, we’ve bigger challenges being presented by the current (and anticipated future) disruptions to shipping than we do in the local flying hours,” said Mrs Jaimeson.
Several other West Falklands residents commented on how difficult it was trying to juggle appointments, slushy or frosty roads and wet airstrips and the isolation experienced when Concordia Bay is in dry dock.
Another said that it felt like “another strike against Camp.” She added “when it seemed the town might starve, an additional ship was commandeered to do the SAAS run. We will have a few months with no ferry and barely any FIGAS and be expected to get on with it.”
But is next season guaranteed?
The recommendations put to the last meeting of the Transport Advisory Committee said it was important to note that the change to the flying program will not mean guaranteed airframe availability in the busier summer months. The document noted that the four day flying proposal was, “an assist to help get the works done, but in no way guarantees that all checks will go to plan and be finished in good time.”
