Emirates set for flight reduction to Mahe during 2014 Dubai airport runway repairs

EMIRATES TO DROP FROM 12 TO 7 FLIGHTS PER WEEK DURING AIRPORT WORK IN DUBAI

(Posted 22nd November 2013)

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Information was received from the Seychelles, that Emirates has told the local tourism trade that come May next year, when the runways at the Dubai International Airport will be resurfaced and capacity limitations therefore will be in place for all airlines flying into the Seychelles, that they will reduce their number of flights from 12 per week to a single daily flights.

It could not be confirmed if this will result in Emirates using a larger aircraft like a B777 as presently the service from Dubai to Mahe is operated by Airbus A340 and Airbus A330 equipment.

‘We hope they can use a larger aircraft when they have to combine the two flights, but I guess that will depend on the bookings they have. For now we are not sure about that and of course we hope that after the repairs in Dubai have been ended Emirates will resume the present flight schedule of 12 weekly services’.

Tourism arrivals to the archipelago have increased once again significantly according to data available from January to October 2013 and the remaining two months should help to establish a new visitor record once again.

Another source suggested that Air Seychelles and Etihad could step up their present number of flights between Abu Dhabi and Mahe but that too is likely to depend on demand for seats. The two partner airlines have benefitted from the withdrawal of Qatar Airways from the Seychelles route according to another source close to Air Seychelles who also indicated that such decisions will not be taken at the spur of the moment but only after a thorough analysis of demand vis a vis available seats. Watch this space for regular and breaking aviation news from the Indian Ocean region.