Following the airline's plans to
undergo restructuring and repositioning that will turn it into a
regional airline, Air Seychelles says it is stopping flight
operations to European destinations - Paris, London, Rome and
Milan. The airline discloses that as from 2012, Air Seychelles will
only be operating to Mauritius and Johannesburg using a B767-300
aircraft.
Air Seychelles CEO, Mr. Bram
Steller, remarks: "Passenger bookings to the three European
destinations have continued to drop significantly after January 9,
2012 and we have had to take a commercial decision to cease
operations to these three European destinations as current bookings
would not by any means even pay for variable, out of pocket
costs.
The CEO explains, however, that Air
Seychelles was in on-going discussions for a code-share agreement
with Etihad Airways to use an Air Seychelles aircraft on the
Mahe-Abu Dhabi-Mahe route to link with Etihad's international
operations to and from Europe and start linking up to their Asian
and Australian destinations as well. Mr. Steller also discloses
that Air Seychelles and its shareholders are in the process of
finalising the return of its three Boeing aircraft to the
lessor.
On its planned regional operations
next year, Air Seychelles says it will be acquiring a narrow-body
Boeing 737-800 or an Airbus 320 that will eventually see the
national airline spread its operations to India, East Africa and
the Indian Ocean.