ANOTHER YEAR OF PROFITABILITY FOR AIR SEYCHELLES
(Posted 14th March 2015)
Passengers carried in 2014: 412.088
Total revenue in 2014: 106.9 million US Dollars – up by 20 percent
Cargo carried: 7.311 tons in 2014
Profits for 2014: 3.2 million US Dollars
These are the proud figures Air Seychelles released yesterday when making public the operational and financial data for the financial year of 2014. Three new aircraft joined the fleet during 2014, first two DeHavilland Twin Otters DHC-6 and then late last year did the airline also take delivery of an Airbus A320. The smaller aircraft are used for scheduled services from Mahe to Praslin and charters to almost all islands with an airstrip. The Airbus A320 in turn is flying from Mahe to Mumbai, Dar es Salaam and Antananarivo, three destinations launched in early December last year.
This will be the third consecutive year of profitability of the airline, which saw its fortunes revived when partner Etihad came on board, some say to the rescue, acquiring a 40 percent shareholding in the carrier. When Etihad stepped in a series of cost cutting measures were introduced as was the fleet renewed with all the aged B767-300ER aircraft being returned to the lessors and new Airbus A330-200 acquired instead. Synergy effects vis a vis combined maintenance, training, purchasing, insurance and other key areas were centralized in Abu Dhabi, halting the financial bleed of past years within the first full year under the new partnership and remaining in the black ever since.
Said Mr. Joel Morgan, Seychelles’ Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport: ‘With further significant financial support from its shareholders, we hope Air Seychelles can announce a further expansion of its network in its key markets as well as new markets in 2015, thereby increasing its economic contribution to Seychelles’.
The Air Seychelles CEO Manoj Papa then added: ‘While the competitive environment remains challenging, these results show we are progressively consolidating and building on our achievements. Our strategy is to use Seychelles’ unique position in the Indian Ocean to capture the strong travel flows between East Africa, the Western Indian Ocean, the UAE and the Indian Subcontinent. For example, the strong growth in passenger numbers from Mumbai to other destinations on our network shows this approach is working’.
Air Seychelles and partner Etihad are the official carrier for the upcoming Seychelles Carnival at the end of April when the island will be packed with carnivalistas from all over the world.
