AIR SEYCHELLES has unveiled plans for new routes and aircraft, to enable the airline to grow with the development of tourist traffic - which has the scope to double to at least around 250,000 people a year.
Executive chairman Freddie Karkaria says that he is considering opportunities to expand in Asia - with Bangkok, Hong Kong and Japan featuring strongly - as well as additional points in Europe. Load factors are growing between the Seychelles and South Africa, and a second service to Johannesburg is likely within the next 12 months, he says. The airline is already introducing services from Tel Aviv in December and from Manchester, in the UK, in January 1996.
The Air Seychelles boss is disappointed that negotiations with Germany for two additional frequencies (at least one from Munich) have ended in deadlock. Germany is the airline's best market, both in terms of yield and revenue, and is shared almost equally between Air Seychelles and Lufthansa subsidiary Condor.
German insistence on multi-airline designation is proving a stumbling block, but Karkaria is confident that this will be resolved at the next meeting scheduled for the second quarter of 1996.
A Boeing 767-300 is to be leased from International Lease Finance late in 1996, to replace the company's Boeing 757, which is becoming too small and is too limited for carrying cargo.
The 767-300 will join a 767-200ER model, now used on the London, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome and Zurich routes. The four 20-seat de Havilland Twin Otters for inter-island flights will remain in service, but the Shorts 330 may be considered as an interim measure as tourism to the outer islands develops further. Ultimately, ATR42s or de Havilland Dash-8s may be required.
Source: Flight International
