AIR SEYCHELLES RENEWS CODE SHARE WITH AIR FRANCE
Information was received that Air Seychelles and Air France / KLM have signed a renewal of their exisiting and long in place code share agreement, with will allow as many as six weekly flights between Paris CDG and Mahe. All flights are operated on the Air Seychelles B767 aircraft but with a dual flight number attached to the service, reflecting the Air France codeshare on the flight.
The agreement, which goes back to 1997 when Air France stopped flying to Seychelles and ‘transferred’ the flight in its entirety to Air Seychelles, also changes the ‘sellability’ for seats to now 55 / 45 percent of the aircraft’s capacity, with Air Seychelles moving from the previous 50 percent to 55.
Paris, and the French market, remains a key pillar for the Seychelles tourism industry and with the entire population being trilingual, including French, the archipelago remains a firm favourite with holiday makers and in particular honeymooners, as increasing sales in France also demonstrate.
The flight notably operates nonstop between Paris and Mahe and cuts down on connection flights which other airlines compel their passengers to do, but the increased competition to uplift traffic to the Seychelles by Gulf based airlines, which presently operate 19 flights per week, soon to rise to 25 flights per week when Etihad will commence flights later in the year. This has caused concern at both Air Seychelles and Air France which intend to counter it with competitive fares and the advantage of a nonstop flight.
Happy Landings!
