AIR SEYCHELLES REGISTERS SECOND A320 ‘AT HOME’
(Posted 02nd September 2015)
S7-SIL is the home registration of Air Seychelles’ second Airbus A320, named ‘Silhouette’ after one of the archipelago’s major granite islands. The first home registered A320 was named ‘Amirantes’ when breaking new ground back in June by being put on the Seychelles’ registry.
The aircraft’s arrival yesterday from Abu Dhabi, welcomed by a traditional water cannon salute, was witnessed by Mr. Danny Faure, Vice President of Seychelles, Mr. Joël Morgan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Transport and Chairman of Air Seychelles, Mr. Roy Kinnear, Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles, high-level government officials and representatives of the travel trade and media.
Minister Morgan used the opportunity to applaud Air Seychelles’ progress over the past few years when he said: ‘We were all filled with pride as we watched the A320 make its final approach for landing on Mahé with our freshly-painted beautiful livery. The arrival of ‘Silhouette’ marks yet another chapter in the development of our national airline, which continues to go from strength-to-strength and is making a significant contribution to the Seychelles economy every day. It is particularly noteworthy that ‘Silhouette’ is the second Airbus aircraft that Air Seychelles has registered in Seychelles this year. This undertaking requires considerable resources and reflects how far the airline has come in growing its operational capacity in the span of three years, with the training and support of its partner Etihad Airways’. This event took place just days after the airline held a major marketing event together with the Seychelles Tourism Board in Mumbai during President James Alix Michel’s State Visit to India. Mumbai is served by Air Seychelles’ Airbus A320 four times a week at present from Mahe. Both Airbus A320’s also fly to Dar es Salaam / Tanzania, Antananarivo / Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion.
The Airbus A320 is a single-aisle aircraft with 16 seats in business and 120 seats in economy class and notably shares a similar cockpit design and other commonalities with its wide-bodied variant, the Airbus A330 which allows Air Seychelles to utilize the same cabin crew and pilots on both aircraft types.
