Air Seychelles a four-star airline! |04 January 2014

After being ranked 133rd in the world and eighth in Africa only two years ago, Air Seychelles is now a four-star airline among only 36 others worldwide, and the continent’s second best!

The good news was announced by the company’s chief executive Cramer Ball in a colourful ceremony at the Seychelles International Airport yesterday, after the airline was promoted to four-star status by the international airline ranking company Skytrax.

The Skytrax airline rankings are decided each year by the votes of 18 million passengers from 100 different countries based on an extensive audit programme which examines more than 800 different areas of product and service delivery, using rigourous quality criteria.

The grading system is recognised as the key benchmarking tool for customer satisfaction by the global airline industry.

It was no normal scene at the arrival area of the Seychelles International Airport yesterday morning as all the Air Seychelles’ big happy family had proudly gathered to jovially celebrate the event around a huge commemorative cake.
 
It was really a perfect way to start the New Year for one of the world’s smallest commercial aviation companies, but now officially one of the best!

Also present were the Minister for Home Affairs and Transport Joël Morgan who is also the chairman of Air Seychelles, Tourism and Culture Minister Alain St Ange, the tourism principal secretary Anne Lafortune, Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) chief executive Sherin Naiken, Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) board chairman David Savy, among other invitees.

Mr Ball described the occasion as a “tremendous achievement” and took the opportunity to recall the continued progress recorded during the last two years and which has contributed to the airline’s overall success. This includes acquiring new aircrafts, extending regional and international routes, upgrading part of the Seychelles Airport’s VIP services to become the best FBOs (Fixed Base Operation) facilities in the region and access to Etihad Airways’ state-of-the-art training academy in Abu Dhabi blended with excellent ground and air service.

“We knew we were becoming a great airline and we wanted to make that official. So we invited Skytrax to audit us, to give us an independent, unbiased reading of where we stood on a global basis. [...] We had achieved our ambitious profit vision, so what about our vision to become a high quality airline? Today, I can proudly confirm that Skytrax has awarded Air Seychelles the prestigious four-star ranking, placing us firmly among the world’s airline elite,” Mr Ball said.

“We are absolutely delighted to receive this recognition. We have been working very hard to enhance our product and service offering. Our new ranking places us among the very best airlines in the world and confirms the significant progress we have made during the last two years.

“The award is also indicative of the enormous commitment and effort by our staff, who with our equity partner, Etihad Airways, have worked to reshape our offering while retaining the very unique Creole warmth and hospitality for which we are renowned,” added Mr Ball.

On his part, Minister Morgan spoke of the event as one of the greatest moments in Air Seychelles’ 35-year history and a day of pride not only for Air Seychelles and its 630 hard working staff, but for the whole country.

“For Air Seychelles to attain this ranking... with a workforce that is 97% Seychellois, from a nation of only 87,000 people, well, words cannot quite capture how amazing an accomplishment that is, especially when you consider how uncertain our future looked two years ago,” an obviously emotional Minister Morgan said.

With the standing, Air Seychelles becomes the only four-star airline in the Indian Ocean and the second in Africa alongside South African Airways. With the new and upgraded status, the local carrier has joined some of the best airlines in the world like British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa and Emirates in the high ranking club of four-star airlines.

As a matter of comparison, companies such as Alitalia, American Airlines, Condor, Air Berlin, Air Austral and Air Mauritius are three-star rated airlines.  While Air Italy, China United Airlines and Iran Air are only ranked as two-star airlines.

Only seven international airlines – Malaysia Airlines, All Nippon Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Hainan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines – form the elite group of five-star airlines.

Air Seychelles has announced that its next goal is to achieve five-star status and be part of them.

The official Skytrax Airlines Star ranking is universally recognised as an independent and creditable measure of the service quality of an airline and the evaluation given is considered by the industry as both dependable and authoritative.

Air Seychelles was awarded its four-star rating after a rigorous auditing exercise by Skytrax in recent months. In June 2013, the airline leapt from 133 to 56 worldwide to join the ranks of the most improved airlines. It also achieved the position as second best airline in Africa.

Edward Plaisted, chief executive of Skytrax, said: "Air Seychelles has introduced new aircraft offering extensive product improvements, and this combined with a strong service quality ethos from their front-line staff has resulted in Air Seychelles now meeting a four-star airline rating. We congratulate Air Seychelles on this fantastic achievement, which is particularly important when one considers that the four-star airline classification includes some of the world's largest and best known airlines."

Skytrax ranks an airline’s frontline product and service standards based on an internationally recognised quality analysis system and professional evaluations. The performance analysis is completed annually and rankings are categorised by region and across the world.

The national carrier of Seychelles is now ranked as the number two airline in Africa, up eight places from its previous ranking of 10 last year, and now holds the number three spot for Best Airline Staff in Africa, a category in which the airline held no ranking last year. In addition, Air Seychelles is now ranked fourth in the Most Improved category.

Air Seychelles was established in 1978 and began long-haul service in 1983. The airline currently offers international flights to Abu Dhabi, Johannesburg, Hong Kong and Mauritius.
 
Air Seychelles also offers more than 200 domestic scheduled flights a week throughout the archipelago, as well as domestic charter services. As the national airline of Seychelles, Air Seychelles is a pillar of tourism, the island nation’s strongest and growing economic sector.

The airline maintains a strategic partnership with Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates and 40 per cent stakeholder.