AIR SEYCHELLES BANKS ON INDIA TRAFFIC FOR GROWTH
(Posted 29th August 2015)
Air Seychelles, now flying four times a week between Mahe and Mumbai, appears keen to turn the route into a key platform for future growth. Cooperation with Jet Airways, also an Etihad partner airline, is at the centre of this strategy which gives the two carriers access to their mutual networks. In India this applies to Jet Airways flights to Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Cochin and Trivandrum and Air Seychelles reciprocates for Indian passengers with flights via Mahe to Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritius and South Africa.
Alongside with the Seychelles Tourism Board did the airline participate at a major tourism promotion in Mumbai earlier in the week, while President Michel was on an official state visit.
Foreign and Transport Minister Joel Morgan, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Air Seychelles, used the occasion to say: ‘Since launching a nonstop service between Mumbai and Seychelles in December 2014, Air Seychelles has continued to enhance its travel offering and build on its operation. Today it is well positioned for further growth in India, which remains a fast-growing travel market with significant potential for inbound tourism into Seychelles. India and Seychelles have long-standing and trusted bilateral relations, as reflected by the reciprocal state visits of President James Michel and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and I am proud to say that by enhancing air connectivity, Air Seychelles is bringing our nations closer together’.
A usually well informed source close to the airline in fact suggested that medium term plans include raising the number of flights from four a week to daily, as demand for honeymoons and regular vacations in the Seychelles’ grow and more passengers take advantage of fast track connections in Mahe to their final destination like Dar es Salaam, Antananarivo, Port Louis and Johannesburg.
An annual Seychelles – India Day celebration has raised the profile of the destination in India and recent Bollywood productions have generated renewed interest among Indians wanting to visit the archipelago.
