(Posted 31st August 2023)
A scheduled flight by Air Seychelles (HM22), flying from Mahe to Tel Aviv with 128 passengers and crew on board, earlier this week reportedly encountered a technical malfunction while enroute. The aircraft’s crew subsequently declared an emergency and diverted to the nearest airport which was Jeddah / Saudi Arabia. The A320, which was acquired by Air Seychelles brand new, carried registration S7-VEV with MSN 8972.
The Airbus A320Neo later landed safely and passengers and crew were disembarked and accommodated in a hotel in Jeddah before a replacement aircraft arrived and the flight continued to its final destination.
The situation could have become complicated were it not for swift contacts between the Seychelles and Saudi governments, as the two countries do not have official diplomatic relations and as most of the passengers on board of the plane were Israelis.
However, it was reported that the communications, also between the airline and aviation authorities in Saudi Arabia, were undertaken in a constructive and positive manner, allowing for the passengers and crew to be allowed temporary entry into Saudi Arabia for the time of their stay at the hotel, before they left the country again.
“All the passengers are safe and a few minutes ago, a replacement flight departed [for Jeddah in order]to return the passengers and continue their flight to Israel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has been updated,” Air Seychelles said in a statement.
The Israeli government also extended thanks to the Saudi government for the way the situation was handled.
“I very much appreciate the warm attitude of the Saudi authorities toward the Israeli passengers whose plane was in distress and had to make an emergency landing,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message on Tuesday before adding: “I’m glad everyone is coming home. Thank you for the good neighborliness”.
The original aircraft was undergoing maintenance to replace parts before then returning home to its base in Mahe.
Earlier in the month has the president’s office announced the appointment of a substantive Chief Executive Officer and the new Board of the Air Seychelles Company Limited.
