Air Seychelles, an affiliate of Etihad Airways, will launch non-stop flights to Paris from July, replacing the twice-weekly service to the French capital through Abu Dhabi.
The three-times weekly non-stop flights to Paris makes business sense for the airline, as France is the No 1 tourism market for Seychelles.
The sector contributes to no less than 60 per cent of the country’s economy.
Air Seychelles used to operate direct flights to France before the Etihad stake acquisition in 2012, but for a while the service was operated through Abu Dhabi.
“The government of Seychelles strongly endorses the non-stop flights between Paris and Seychelles,” said Joël Morgan, Air Seychelles’ chairman and the foreign affairs and transport minister. “It was always part of the plan to return to Paris non-stop when the time was right.
“This service will connect to one of Europe’s most popular and well-positioned hubs, which will give a further boost to arrival numbers from this core market, thereby making an even bigger contribution to the national economy of the Seychelles.”
The direct service to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport will be operated by an Airbus A330-200.
Manoj Papa, the chief executive of Air Seychelles, said in an interview with TheNational this month that he would like to code share with Air France to connect to more cities in France.
Air Seychelles posted a 6.6 per cent jump in annual profit for last year. The airline reported earnings of US$3.2 million last year compared with $3m the previous year. Revenue rose 20 per cent to $106.9m last year from $88.7m a year earlier.
selgazzar@thenational.ae
