Air Seychelles, the national airline of the Seychelles, is looking to increase weekly frequencies on its regional network from April in a codeshare with Etihad.

Moreover, the airline will launch three weekly non-stop Paris flights from July, replacing the current twice-weekly service to the French capital via Abu Dhabi.

This non-stop Paris service will continue to be operated to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport on an Air Seychelles Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

Joël Morgan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport and Air Seychelles chairman, said: “This service will connect to one of Europe’s most popular and well positioned hubs, which will give a further boost to arrival numbers from this core market, thereby making an even bigger contribution to the national economy of Seychelles.”

Chief Executive Officer, Air Seychelles, Manoj Papa, said: “The non-stop Paris flight is an exciting development that has been unanimously welcomed by the travel trade.”

“In order to deliver further benefits to travellers, the service will be coupled with a considerable deepening of our regional network, which is designed to meet the demand for travel between East Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East, connecting across our Seychelles hub. We are continuing to build flexibility and convenience into our regional network for business and leisure travellers.”

The regional network development strategy will see Air Seychelles substantially upgrade Mauritius and Mumbai (India) to a four-per-week service and operate an additional third weekly flight to Antananarivo in Madagascar, bringing an additional 21,000 regional return seats to Seychelles per year.

Including its current scheduled services to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania (two weekly flights) and Johannesburg in South Africa (three weekly flights), this regional network enhancement will now see Air Seychelles offer 16 return services per week in the Indian Ocean region, up from 13 previously.

In addition, Etihad Airways and Air Seychelles will together offer a double daily service between Seychelles and Abu Dhabi, up from its current 13 flights per week.

Building on access to the China market, the three-per-week service between Seychelles and Hong Kong will be incorporated into a daily codeshare service operated by Etihad Airways, providing guests with access to and from Hong Kong every day of the week. The service, operated on an Air Seychelles-liveried Airbus A330-200 three times a week, will have an Air Seychelles ambassador in both the Business Class and Economy Class cabins, thereby promoting the Creole Spirit.

To support the deepening regional network, the airline will obtain an Airbus A320 aircraft in April.

Maximising utilization of its international fleet, one Airbus A330-200 in Air Seychelles’ livery will be operated in the interim by Etihad Airways from April end. Air Seychelles will maintain a total of three Airbus aircraft in its fleet. – TradeArabia News Service