SEYCHELLES’ TRANSPORT MINISTER MEETS AIRLINE REPRESENTATIVES
(Posted 13th March 2014)
Minister Joel Morgan, responsible for Home Affairs and Transport in the Seychelles government, has over the course of the past few weeks met with representatives of airlines flying to Mahe, it was learned overnight. Minister Morgan is quoted to have said: ‘It is my intention to understand fully the concerns of the airline companies flying into Seychelles for we value their presence and the exposure and possibilities that they create. I am receptive to ideas that they may have on improving the product on offer at our airports, primarily the international arrivals and departures, as well as our domestic operations both on Mahe and on Praslin, or what they perceive as hindrances to their operations here if and where they exist. At the end of all these meetings, we seek to improve and as well better place ourselves so that we may not only attract other airlines to our skies but as well to work to get those airlines who have left us, or announced that they are, to come back at some point in time’.
Minister Morgan, on the same issues as well as other agenda items, also held meetings with the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and the Seychelles Hospitality & Tourism Association (SHTA) where both organizations were able to put their points across vis a vis airline operations into the Seychelles.
Tourism industry stakeholders had in the past voiced their concerns when first Blue Panorama from Italy pulled out of the Seychelles two years ago, followed by Qatar Airways last year and from March this year will Ethiopian Airlines also discontinue their 4 flights from Addis Ababa into which passengers from around the world could connect.
The three airlines’ departure from the Seychelles curtailed the number of seats on offer to the archipelago and is throwing a challenge to the tourism marketers to bring more tourists to the islands, aggravated this year by the traffic restrictions the upgrading of the two runways at Dubai International Airport poses between May and July, which has led to Emirates reduce their flights from Dubai to Mahe from presently 12 to only 7 per week. On the upside did Mihin Lanka start flights from Sri Lanka and Air Austral from Ile de la Reunion has also announced they would return to the Seychelles in June.
It is understood from usually well informed sources in Victoria that the cost of doing business at the international airport is of concern to the airlines, as all ground handling is presently done by Air Seychelles, the national airline, without any competition. ‘Groundhandling is a very profitable division of Air Seychelles’ wrote a source in response to some questions posed before continuing: ‘HM is the only provider of ground handling services so airlines wanting to fly to Mahe are unable to play one company against another as they do in other airports where two, three or many handling companies are licensed. Groundhandling income is one of the reasons why Air Seychelles has returned to profitability over the past two years, besides of course radical cost cutting measures, streamlining the fleet, maintenance, training and purchasing. The big question is, can the Seychelles at this time afford to lift the handling monopoly and invite a second ground handling company for a concession to come here or otherwise, to what extent could HM lower their charges to bring them more in line with what other airports charge’.
Minister Morgan is also Chairman of national airline Air Seychelles, which is owned by the government of the Seychelles (60 percent) and by Abu Dhabi’s national airline Etihad (40 percent).
Watch this space for breaking and regular news from the aviation industry across the Indian Ocean islands.
