12 Seychellois graduate from Etihad Airways world class training programme |08 October 2015

Air Seychelles has celebrated the graduation of 12 Seychellois nationals who have successfully completed career development programmes with Etihad Airways.

The group of four graduate managers, seven cadet engineers and one cadet pilot were presented with certificates at a ceremony held at the prestigious Al Raha Beach Hotel in Abu Dhabi by James Hogan, president and chief executive of Etihad Airways.

Roy Kinnear, chief executive of Air Seychelles, said: “We congratulate each of our 12 new graduates on completing their training with Etihad Airways, which has equipped them with the skills, experience and qualifications to take up key positions at Air Seychelles.

“This group represents the next generation of Seychellois leaders in aviation and to see them do so well is a very proud moment for us all.”

Graduate managers Elsie Hurst, Elvis Uranie, Joel Bacharie and Magalie Essack are the first cohort of Seychellois trainees to complete the Graduate Management Development Programme (GMDP), a 21-month workplace learning course where members receive on-the-job training and are rotated through key Etihad Airways departments before focusing on a specialised airline function.

The graduates started the course in 2012 and have now returned to management level positions at Air Seychelles.

Mr Kinnear added: “As the national airline of Seychelles, one of our top priorities is to train and develop home-grown talent across all areas of the airline business and we are delighted to partner with Etihad Airways to achieve this important goal.

“Etihad Airways operates some of the most advanced aviation educational facilities in the world and provides our graduate managers, engineers and pilots with unrivalled career development opportunities.”

Graduating engineers Marios Desylva, Marlon Nourrice, Antoine François, Clifton Leon, Damien Azemia, Erol Agricole and Herve Toulon started the cadet engineer programme in 2012 and completed two years of classroom training at Al Ain in 2014.

The graduates are currently gaining experience in aircraft maintenance at the Abu Dhabi International Airport following which they will join Air Seychelles in the technical operations department, working on its fleet of modern Airbus A320 and A330 aircraft.

The ceremony also saw Kevin Kumar graduate from the cadet pilot programme.  Kevin completed 750 hours of classroom sessions and 205 hours of flight training in single and multi-engine aircraft and is now flying with Air Seychelles as a first officer on the twin otter aircraft which is operated domestically.

This is the first of numerous graduate management programmes aiming to embed Seychellois talent back into management positions in Air Seychelles in the years ahead.  Currently, Air Seychelles has 13 graduates undergoing training in Abu Dhabi and are at various stages of their training.  Areas in which graduate managers will specialise are: corporate communications, HR, IT, e-commerce, finance, catering and product, revenue management, airport operations, internal audit and commercial sales.

The graduation was attended by senior management from Air Seychelles led by Abdulmohsen Al Sayegh, Air Seychelles chief financial officer.