SEYCHELLES SIGNS NEW BILATERAL AIR SERVICE AGREEMENTS
(Posted 29th October 2015)
Details have emerged of new Bilateral Air Service Agreements, in short BASA’s being signed and negotiated by the Seychelles.
The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority used their presence in Antalya / Turkey for the annual ICAO Forum to meet with their counterparts from a number of countries to advance ongoing negotiations and sign new deals.
BASA’s were renewed with among other countries Belgium and Israel while new agreements were inked with Zambia, the Ivory Coast, Bulgaria, Portugal and Denmark to name but a few.
Discussions with Turkey are reportedly at an advances stage as under a new deal Turkish Airlines could commence flights to the archipelago after just adding their 45th destination in Africa, Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Turkish Airlines, a fast growing global airline now serving 279 destinations in 110 countries around the world, has in recent years caught up with the leading Gulf airlines and would no doubt give tourism in the Seychelles a major boost.
While a revived cruise tourism segment again has shown signs of adding yet more numbers of visitors is it air transport which brings in more and more visitors year after year, with the increase in arrivals in 2015 so far up by a staggering 19 percent compared to 2014.
Airlines presently flying to Mahe are Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, connecting Africa to the archipelago, while from the Gulf it is Emirates and Etihad, the former offering two daily B777 connections and the latter in code share with national airline Air Seychelles also offering double daily flights.
Other airlines include Reunion based Air Austral, Sri Lanka’s Mihin Lanka and Germany’s Condor, which plans to raise flights from once a week to twice a week next year.
