AIR SEYCHELLES COUNTING DOWN TO FIRST BEIJING FLIGHT
(Posted 27th January 2016)
On the 02nd of February, less than a week from today, will Air Seychelles launch the long awaited nonstop flights between Mahe and Beijing, opening the Chinese market of travelers to the archipelago. Chinese travelers have over the past three years embraced the archipelago as a holiday but also a honeymoon and wedding destination and the new flights are expected to add yet greater numbers.
Joel Morgan, Chairman of Air Seychelles and also the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport, commented yesterday on the imminent launch of flight HM887 when he said: ‘The introduction of scheduled non-stop flights between Seychelles and Beijing will be a tremendously proud moment in the history of Air Seychelles, demonstrating the impressive growth of our national airline over the past four years. The Beijing service will enhance the deeply-rooted cultural and trade ties between our countries and bring significant numbers of Chinese leisure travellers to our shores, boosting the national economy’.
Roy Kinnear, the airline’s CEO, then added his own comments: ‘We are pleased to reveal the launch date of our Beijing service and look forward to welcoming our first guests onboard the flights. Our famous inflight service has been especially tailored for the Chinese market with meals inspired by Chinese cuisine that are served with chop sticks, Mandarin-speaking cabin crew and Chinese films and music on the inflight entertainment systems. Guests will also be able to use our newly-introduced inflight connectivity service, HM Connect, to call family and friends, browse the internet and post on their favorite weibo or wechat service while flying over the Indian Ocean. As we prepare for the first flight to Beijing, we would like to thank the Seychelles and Chinese civil aviation and airport authorities for their support in the realization of this important new air bridge between Seychelles and China’.
The new service will be operated using an Air Seychelles Airbus A330-200 aircraft offering both Business Class and Economy Class cabins. Beijing is the airline’s second destination in China after Hong Kong, which is however served with codeshared flights routing via Abu Dhabi.
Other destinations are Paris and Mumbai while in Africa Air Seychelles flies to Johannesburg, Antananarivo / Madagascar, Port Louis / Mauritius and Dar es Salaam / Tanzania.
More information about Destination Seychelles can be accessed via www.seychelles.travel where a wide range of details are found about accommodation across the various islands, tourism attractions and the festivals staged every year by the Seychelles Tourism Board.
