Remote British territory could be cut off from outside world amid row with RAF

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St Helena, a remote British Overseas Territory off the African coast, is at risk of being completely cut off from air travel due to a dispute with an RAF base on a nearby island.The row centres on the RAF's refusal to allow emergency diversionary landings for civilian aircraft serving the island's 4,400 residents.Weekly flights, currently run by Airlink, could be grounded if the standoff is not resolved.Without air access, the colony would be reachable only by sea - with the closest port in South Africa some five days' sail away.Ascension Island, roughly 700 miles from St Helena, is meant to serve as a backup airport when poor weather prevents landings.The RAF base there was where British forces launched a daring mission to hantavirus patients on Tristan da Cunha, another of Britain's possessions in the Atlantic.An investigation by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) found that the RAF had imposed a ban on Airlink touching down on Ascension during poor weather.As a result,...

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