Air Seychelles yesterday announced the launch of its direct service between Chennai and Seychelles. At a press conference held in Mumbai, Captain David Savy, Executive Chairman, Air Seychelles said Boeing 767 (a mid-sized, wide-body twin jet aircraft) will depart from Chennai every Wednesday and will take four hours and 20 minutes to reach Seychelles. 

He said that this launch of service is in response to the increasing number of arrivals from the Indian subcontinent and demand from the local Indian community for a direct air link to India. “Many Seychellois travel to Chennai for medical and other purposes, including business and with many workers of Indian origin coming to Seychelles, from and around Chennai, there is a sound market for servicing the route,” added Savy. 

Currently, most passengers to and from India on other airlines have to change flights resulting in long transit period. Thus, by introducing this service the airline is looking at filling the void. The airline has chosen Mumbai-headquartered Global Aviation Services Pvt Ltd as their General Sales and Agent (GSA). Earlier, the airline was servicing Mumbai-Seychelles sector. “However, due to fierce competition from West Asian carriers, we withdrew our services. Now that we are confident that there is enough demand in the Chennai-Seychelles route to deploy wide body aircraft,” added Savy.