Air Seychelles, the national airline of the Seychelles, based on the island of Mahé, today re-entered the Indian skies by launching direct flights to Chennai. The airline also approached Indian regulator for traffic rights between Chennai and Singapore.
David Savy, executive chairman, Air Seychelles, said that the airline got the approval from the Directorate of Civil Aviation for a weekly flight to be operated between Seychelles and Chennai with immediate effect.
The Boeing 767 will depart from Chennai every Wednesday and takes 4.20 hours flying time to Seychelles. “We are expecting a load factor of 80 per cent. The first flight which landed in Chennai on Monday mid-night, had a load factor of 90 per cent. If the load factor continues at this level we will increase it to two flights a week,” he said.
While the airline was planning to target leisure and business travellers from Chennai to Seychelles, on the other way round, it would cater to people travelling to Chennai for medical and other purposes.
“We want to promote Chennai as a shopping destination also. So far, Singapore and Dubai have been the shopping destinations for Seychelles people,” Savy said.
The Indian Ocean island has a population of around 90,000 people, whereas tourist arrival is around 1.70 lakh. Recent visitor arrival statistics shows a 57 per cent growth in number of visitors from Asia, with over half of this coming from India, said Jocelyn Bonnal, director of marketing and sales, Air Seychelles, “thus supporting the logic for operating a non-stop direct service to India.”
