Mihin Lanka to increase Seychelles’ connectivity |18 November 2013

Aviation history was in the making at the Seychelles International Airport at Point Larue on Saturday afternoon, as the inaugural flight of Mihin Lanka, code shared with SriLankan Airlines, arrived in Seychelles.

The blue-tailed A 321 airbus with a white lotus leaf touched down at the Seychelles International Airport at exactly 4.03pm after a 3 hour 43 minute journey from Colombo.
The Minister for Home Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan was on the tarmac to welcome the crew and about ninety passengers, including a large group of Chinese tourists, who disembarked from the flight.

Also present were the chairman of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority Captain David Savy, the authority’s  chief executive officer (CEO) Gilbert Faure, the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board Sherin Naiken, Sri Lanka’s honorary consul in Seychelles Roy Fonseka, the chairman of Vision Voyages (the airline’s local representative) Ahmed Didi, among other high level government and private sector representatives.

During a short welcoming ceremony animated by singer Dave Sinon and dancers from the School of Dance in the airport’s arrival lounge, Minister Morgan described the event as a special occasion which has come as a result of the commitment given by the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, to the President and people of Seychelles and which will provide various opportunities to both countries.

“The commitment has come to real in such a short period of time. It shows the commitment to improve connectivity between the two island states. It will provide various opportunities in terms of trade, tourism as well as connectivity to other Asian countries as well as Australia,” the minister said.

Minister Morgan also called on all partners to help sustain the partnership between the two countries:

“Seychelles and Sri Lanka have become close partners in the tourism and transport sector. We now need to make the partnership work. We now have to do everything that is possible to make it a success. I call on everyone in the tourism and transport sectors to come together as partners to cope with the increase in the number of passengers created by the new route,” the minister said.

Mihin Lanka will operate two weekly flights between Colombo and Mahé -- on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, with a 180 capacity all economy configuration aircraft.