Joy as 'world's most useless airport' opens

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.

As the inaugural plane from Johannesburg touched down on the forbidding volcanic outcrop in the middle of the south Atlantic, the travel and history buffs on board clapped and cheered.

“I’ve never felt so emotional in all my life,” said Libby Weir-Breen, a British travel operator who has been bringing tourists to the island, 1,900km west of Angola, for the past 12 years. She had flown in specially from Scotland to be on the plane and dabbed away tears as it touched down on the spectacular cliff-side runway.

“I never thought I’d see this day,” she said.