Air Seychelles

Air Seychelles

IATA HM ICAO SEY Callsign SEYCHELLES
Founded	1977
Hubs	Seychelles International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Seychelles Plus
Airport lounge	Salon de Vallee de Mai (SEZ)
Fleet size	6
Destinations	3
Headquarters	Seychelles International Airport Mahé, Seychelles
Key people	Cramer Ball (CEO) Shelley Cole (CFO) James Michel (President)[citation needed] France-Albert René (Founder)[citation needed]
Website	www.airseychelles.com

Air Seychelles is the national airline of the Seychelles, with its head office on the property of Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahé. It operates inter-island services and international flights. Its main base is Seychelles International Airport.

History

The airline was established on 15 September 1977, following the merger of Air Mahé and Inter-Island Airways, as Seychelles Airlines and adopted the present title in September 1978. It started international routes in 1983 to Frankfurt and London. It is wholly owned by the Seychelles government and employs 663 staff. It operates a fleet of Boeing 767s on its international network and offers two classes of service, Pearl Class (Business class) and Economy Class. Based at the Seychelles International Airport (SEZ), it also operates a small base at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG) as agreed with Air France to serve many off-line European destinations (such as former routes like Manchester and Madrid). It is also the major ground handling agent for all aircraft operating at SEZ.

First Boeing 767

On 27 June 1989, Air Seychelles received its first Boeing 767 (Registration S7-AAS), a new Boeing 767-200ER, which was leased from ILFC, that made its way to the Seychelles straight off the production line of Boeing. The aircraft landed at Seychelles International Airport after it had completed the longest non-stop flight for a twin-engine aircraft at the time, which began in Grand Rapids, USA on the 26 June.^{[citation needed]} The flight lasted a total of 16 hours 49 minutes and 29 seconds and covered a great circle distance of 14,311 KM(8,893 miles). This record was broken nearly a year later by the same type of aircraft on 10 June 1990. This remarkable aircraft also had the landing gear of the 767-300 which allowed it to carry a full load of cargo, passengers and fuel without the limitations of the 767-200. Air Seychelles later returned the aircraft in April 2001 after 12 years in service.

Destinations

Main article: Air Seychelles destinations

Codeshare agreements

Currently, Air Seychelles has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

• Air France (SkyTeam)
• Etihad Airways

Fleet

An Air Seychelles Boeing 767-300ER at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. (2010)

Shorts 360

Bird Island Airport

The Air Seychelles fleet includes the following aircraft:

Aircraft	In Service	Orders	Passengers			Notes
			J	Y	Total
Boeing 767-300ER	1	—	22	190	212	Leased from ILFC Used on International routes
DHC-6 Series 300 Twin Otter	3	—	0	19	19	Used on Domestic routes
DHC-6 Series 400 Twin Otter	1	—	0	19	19
Short 360-300	1	—	0	36	36
Total	6	0

Air Seychelles are returning all long-haul aircraft as they cost too much. they are proposing to use short-haul aircraft on Singapore, Mauritius and Johannesburg, the aircraft that will likely be used will be Airbus A320 family or Boeing 737^{[citation needed]}

Retired

Air Seychelles has previously operated these aircraft.

Services

Cabin

Pearl class

Pearl Class is the name that has been used by the airline for its Business Class seats since the start of international operations in 1983. Currently, the seats are not competitive with other Business Class seats on airlines that fly to the Seychelles, however there were plans to improve the Pearl Class seats with the arrival of the Boeing 787 in the 2010 to lie-flat seats. With delays in production of the aircraft, the company will begin placing the new Pearl Class seats on their current aircraft during September 2010, as the new aircraft is set to arrive in 2013. The new Pearl Class seats were unveiled earlier in 2010 and will be fitted firstly to the older 767-300ERs, (S7-AHM and S7-ASY). The old Pearl Class seats on these aircraft will replace the ones on the 767-200s which are used on regional routes. The airline is testing out a new portable In-Flight Entertainment(IFE) system in Pearl Class on its commercial routes. Pearl Class seats are available on international routes only and are configured in a 2-2-2 manner.

Economy plus

Seats in Economy Plus are wider and have more legroom than seats in Economy Class. These were offered on regional routes only as a replacement for Pearl Class, which were Bangkok, Johannesburg, Mauritius and Singapore, for a brief period from December 2007 to September 2008. The airline leased in a Boeing 767-207EM from XL Airways UK to supplement its only two other 767-300ERs, and this was the only aircraft to offer these type of seats of the fleet. With the collapse of the XL Airways UK in September 2008, the aircraft was grounded at Seychelles International Airport and the airline leased in another 767-200 and opted to return to its original Pearl and Economy Class configuration.

Economy class

Economy seats are configured in a 2-3-2 manner on all international routes. The seats have been improved for better passenger comfort over the last years from the 2-4-2 configration by increasing seat width and pitch. The seats are set to be upgraded with the arrival of the Boeing 787, with improvements such as personal video screens.

Charter services

UK Ministry of Defence

Air Seychelles ended its contract in the third quarter of 2011 with the UK Ministry of Defence to provide service from RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, England, to RAF Ascension Island and then on to RAF Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, in the South Atlantic. The contract was to provide the only scheduled air link, commonly known as the South Atlantic air bridge, from mainland UK to Ascension and the Falklands.

The airline was due to make its final flight to the Falkland Islands on 2 September 2011, according to a press report.

British charter Airline Titan Airways has now taken over the contract for twelve months to commence on 4 September.

Air Seychelles announced in January 2010 that it had begun operations to the Falklands as part of a contract with the Ministry of Defence. Air Seychelles successfully bid for it after the ministry had to seek a replacement for the previous operator, which went bankrupt. Several other airlines also bid for the contract, but Air Seychelles was successful due to its experience of flying 767s and of island locations.

Air Seychelles was considered the best choice as it is one of the world’s most experienced Boeing 767 operators with over 20 years of extended-range operations. So the operation could be effectively carried out, one of the airline's five 767s, a Boeing 767-300ER, was to have been permanently based in the UK to fly the twice-weekly service to Ascension and onwards to the Falklands. Crews were positioned in Ascension and the UK.

Restructuring

Air Seychelles plans to restructure and reposition itself as a regional carrier. Air Seychelles will enter into code share agreements with Etihad Airways and other airlines as the business requires for the uptake of passengers affected by the discontinued routes and seats vacated by Air Seychelles. Source: Seychelles Nation 18 Nov 2011.

Incidents and accidents

In December 2007 an Air Seychelles Boeing 767-300ER, S7-AHM 'Vallée de Mai', suffered heavy damage after being towed into a barrier fence by a tow truck at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. The repair was filmed and was aired on National Geographic Channel in an episode of 'The World's Toughest Fixes': 'Airline ER'.

External links

• Media related to Air Seychelles at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website