Yesterday a Lufthansa A350-900 completed an ultra long-haul flight from Hamburg to Mt. Pleasant, in the Falkland Islands. The 15 hour 37 minute flight was Lufthansas longest ever. The plane will be heading back to Germany tomorrow, as LH2575. Sadly this isnt destined to become a regularly scheduled route (wouldnt that be something.) But it did make us curious to look a little deeper into aviation in the Falklands and for such a small place, theres a lot going on there.

In fact as ultra long-hauls go, this flight was only mildly impressive. It was a record-setter for Lufthansa, but these days its not uncommon to see airlines doing 19- or 20-hour flights with their A350s. However the fact that this was headed to the Falklands (the first leg for a group of scientists making their way to Antarctica) caught the attention of many an aviation enthusiast.

Mt. Pleasant Airport (MPN) is also known as RAF Mt. Pleasant, so-called because its a Royal Air Force base. Just the mention of the Falkland Islands is sure to set off a volley of political arguments, and the fact of this being a British air base probably doesnt help.

For the uninitiated, Argentina claims these islands as their own, and refers to them as Las Malvinas. There was a war fought over them in the 1980s. Its a messy dispute that mostly simmers quietly under the surface, usually until someone mentions the islands in conversation. Its surprisingly sensitive for a place with a total population only just slightly more than 3,000 people.

Mt. Pleasant Airport may be an air force base, but it also sees scheduled commercial flights. Thats because it has by far the longest runways on the island with an 8497-foot (2590-meter) strip that can handle just about any type of aircraft. Scheduled flights to MPN are relatively few in number these days. With normal non-pandemic schedules in effect its generally possible to fly with LATAM to Mt. Pleasant from Chile and Brazil.

The longest-running flight is the link with Punta Arenas in Chile, although that hasnt operated in some time. LATAM has this flight back in their schedule once a week starting in April, although the Falkland Islands Government has stated these wont start back up again until late June (thanks to Ronnie MB for pointing this out). Flight time on the A320 to Punta Arenas, whenever it does start up again, is about an hour and a half.

Mt. Pleasant is also the destination for a special flight known as the airbridge operated by AirTanker in cooperation with the British Ministry of Defence. It departs RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) in England and heads to Mt. Pleasant, normally via a stop somewhere along the way. In the past Ascension Island has been the go-to tech stop. Lately it seems the planes mostly route through Dakar.

These flights have actually been flown nonstop, although that doesnt seem to be a regular occurrence. Last year AirTanker ran a handful of nonstop proving flights on one of its A330-200s, G-VYGM, between Brize Norton and Mt. Pleasant. The southbound flight was 15 hours 9 minutes long just a little bit shorter than yesterdays Lufthansa flight. As it happens, G-VYGM is on the ground at Mt. Pleasant as we speak, having come in from Brize Norton and Dakar on February 1.

The Falklands has another main airport not too far (30 miles as the crow flies) from Mt. Pleasant, at Port Stanley (PSY). Stanley is the main population center and capital of the Falklands. However the longest runway is just 3,013 feet (918 meters), so scheduled flights stick to MPN.

Its airport is used mainly for short runs around the Falklands to airstrips serving remote communities. The Falkland Islands Government Air Service is the main player here it does double duty running Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders on mostly unscheduled civilian flights as well as running surveillance and maritime patrol around the territory. Port Stanley also occasionally sees flights to and from British research stations in Antarctica, and helicopter services out to the Zebedee Oil Rig.

Its not easy or cheap to get to the Falkland Islands, especially from the Northern Hemisphere. However it would clearly be worth the effort, especially for anyone interested in aviation. Ill be adding this to my list of places to go once we can all move around freely again. And Ill be doing everything I can to catch a flight on one of those Islanders.

Go here to read the rest:

All about the Falkland Islands and its airports - Flightradar24