AIR SEYCHELLES SIGNS GROUND BREAKING CODE SHARE WITH SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS
Air Seychelles today announced the signing of a ground breaking codeshare agreement with South African Airways, now covering the routes from Johannesburg to Mahe’s International Airport but also beyond, to the archipelago’s second island of Praslin where the airline operates multiple daily flights.
In turn will Air Seychelles be able to place their own flight number on South African Airways flights from Johannesburg to a number of domestic destinations across South Africa, giving them access to a much wider market of sun seekers in particular during the Southern African winter season.
The first code shared flights will commence operations on 30th of April already, showing how keen the two partner airlines were to make this agreement a reality.
Last month did Air Seychelles launch a new schedule which now connects Johannesburg with Mahe three times a week, and offering convenient day time departures both ways every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, with more flights likely to be added soon as existing capacity is taken up by the market. The aircraft used on the route is one of Air Seychelles new Airbus A330-200 models.
Cramer Ball, Air Seychelles Chief Executive Officer, said on the occasion of announcing the new deal: ‘Our flights to Johannesburg have been incredibly successful, reflecting an increasing number of travellers coming out of South Africa to the Seychelles for leisure, business and sport. Traffic from South Africa has grown at a steady pace of 11 per cent each year for the past decade. In the first quarter of this year alone, traffic is up 13 per cent. With this codeshare agreement, guests will be able to purchase flights from South African Airways destinations onwards to the Seychelles on one ticket, making for a simpler and seamless journey. We have also established a foundation for twin-centre tourism products which combine a safari in Africa with a Seychelles beach holiday. SAA Holidays will also be adding Seychelles to their holiday program, providing a new channel for selling travel to our island nation and supporting the vitally important tourism industry’ while SAA’s Commercial Director Papa Manoj added: ‘This partnership signals a strategic move by both airlines to increase connectivity and grow their networks. This also augments SAA’s already extensive African footprint. SAA currently flies directly to 26 destinations across Africa from its Johannesburg hub. Furthermore, the partnership adds breadth to our network, incorporating two additional destinations to the existing global partnership network which provides in excess of 1329 destinations in 194 countries globally. With strategic partnerships such as this one SAA is able to provide its passengers with more connections on the continent and across the globe’.
Flying the Creole Spirit to South Africa, Mauritius, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong – Happy Landings.
