The Falkland Islands doesn’t really do public transport – not on land anyway. However, in the air we benefit from the rather fabulous FIGAS – or Falkland Islands Government Air Service, which will celebrate its 75th birthday later this year.

FIGAS flies to anywhere in the Islands with an air strip and they do it in Britten-Norman Islander planes, manufactured in the Solent. These are small, rugged, propeller aircraft that can land on grass airstrips and beaches as required and don’t need a lot of room for take-off or landing. FIGAS has 5 (1 also does fishery patrol surveillance over the fishing fleets) and they take up to 8 people and freight each.

The service takes a little bit of getting used to – there’s no schedule. You contact FIGAS and say where you want to go on which day. They then take all the requests and work out a schedule that makes sense – so a trip that looks like it could be 30 minutes, might take an hour, if there are stops on the way. They also tell you what time you’ll be flying, you definitely don’t get to choose and you need to learn to be flexible, because the day doesn’t always go the way they expect and your flight time can change.

The service is a lifeline for settlements and critical to the development of land tourism, particularly for the Outer Islands who are visited by the supply ship just once a month. FIGAS is the way for many in Camp to reach Stanley for doctor’s appointments, to go shopping or to meet up with friends. Children at secondary school, who board in Stanley, are picked up and taken home by FIGAS at the start and end of each half-term and sometimes will go home for a long weekend or special event.

For me, the great thing about flying with FIGAS is that you really know you are flying, there’s no endless waiting in white, glossy air terminals and then being loaded into a vast plane to be bored for hours on end.

With FIGAS you turn up at the airport in Stanley, are weighed (yes you, as well as your luggage) and then walk across the tarmac to climb up into the plane and strap yourself in. The pilot checks everyone is properly in, starts the enginges and the propellers whirl round. The plane lifts off really quickly and you get a great view of Stanley beneath you as you set off on another adventure. I highly recommend it!