I recently wrote about the perfectly formed and friendly FIGAS, so thinking about flying and having recently flown to the UK and back it must be time to talk about … the Airbridge.

Those of you who live in Cowes on the Isle of Wight (and possibly in other harbours) will know about Floating Bridges, a.ka. ferries that connect the road on either side of some water by boat rather than a physical bridge, so you understand the concept already.

The Airbridge is a plane rather than a bridge, that connects the Falklands with the UK. It flies the route twice a week and takes 18 hours airport to airport or in reality RAF Brize Norton to RAF Mount Pleasant.

It also connects Ascension Island with the UK, Ascension is a midpoint stop on the 16 hour flight. The Airbridge has just started using Ascension again, after several years of having to use Cape Verde and other places, whilst the Ascension runway was made fit for large, heavy planes. A huge engineering and construction project in the middle of the Atlantic.

Here is the Airbridge at Cape Verde airport on my most recent trip south – an early morning sojourn in the low 20s and lots of sunshine – a bit different from the conditions at either end.

As you can see the plane looks like a normal commercial flight on the outside and it does on the inside too – no jump seats for us, but normal passenger seats with premium economy legroom and nice cabin crew. The other good news is that the flight is generally not filled to capacity, so you may well have an empty seat next to you, it’s rare to feel like a sardine.

Without doubt all 18 hour flights are boring, no matter who you are flying with. Airtanker (who run the flight) fill in the hours by feeding you – a lot. Not only are there many meals and snacks but I’m coming to the conclusion that the food portions are based on feeding the Infantry and the Marines. For example breakfasts are at least – a cooked breakfast, a large yoghurt, a croissant, fruit and fruit juice and there might be seconds if you want. It makes sense, as I once remember a friend telling me about the British Olympic rowing squad eating all their food and all the spare food on a long haul BA flight and still being hungry. No danger of that on the Airbridge.

So that’s the good news – but there is some bad. Firstly, the Airbridge is not very reliable… about 1 in 5 planes is delayed, often by 24 hours, or diverted, or worst of all cancelled. The major reason for this is weather and particularly wind direction. Apparently the location of RAF Mount Pleasant is not ideal, being near a range of hills. When the north wind blows, it causes an effect called rotor winds, which can do unfortunate things to planes, so on the whole the RAF prefer planes not to land or take off in northerlies. This is complicated by the fact that it’s expensive for the plane to be stuck at Cape Verde overnight or diverted to Montevideo (as happened recently) – although passengers are generally quite happy to be somewhere warm for a day or two. All of these factors lead to a deal of caution and delays when the wind is forecast to be northerly.

The second quirk of flying in and out of RAF airbases is that the military like you to be there early and then they like you to wait. This is particularly true at Brize – the plane’s scheduled takeoff is around 1am and check in opens at 7pm and closes at 10pm. There are dire warnings about making sure you have left enough time to check in – so most people get there between 8 and 9pm. As it’s an RAF base, not Heathrow, there are a minimal number of things to do once you’ve checked in – the military passengers set the gold standard in waiting. They have generally brought cards to play in groups and if it’s a particularly long wait will stretch out on the floor (sometimes in a sleeping bag brought for the purpose) and go to sleep. I’m perfecting my going to sleep sitting up skills – I haven’t tried the floor yet but I can see the appeal!

However, despite its quirks the Airbridge is a vital link for the Islands and once you’re aboard it’s a pretty good service. It makes a good story and once you’ve got where you want to go, it’s all worthwhile!