Air Seychelles has two new Seychellois captains |02 August 2016

Air Seychelles has two new Seychellois captains. First Officers Christopher Lespoir and Charles Elizabeth have been promoted to captain after undergoing simulator training at the Etihad Academy in Abu Dhabi and practical flights on the Airbus A320 which they are now going to command.

They were presented with their captain badges by Air Seychelles chief executive (CEO) Roy Kinnear in a brief ceremony at the Seychelles International Airport yesterday afternoon.

The ceremony took place in the presence of the national airline's general manager for operations Christophe Schippel, head of flight operations Donal Young and members of the captains' families.

Captain Lespoir, 38, joined Air Seychelles in 1998 as a Twin Otter pilot before moving as co-pilot on the Boeing 767. This is what he had to say after receiving his four captain's bars:

"It has been a long, tough but worthy journey with a lot of work. At the same time it was a two-way journey as on one side there was our dedication and motivation and on the other there was the opportunity offered by Air Seychelles and the Seychelles government. It is a journey you have once in your life time but once you go through it, it is rewarding."

Captain Elizabeth, 34, followed the same path since 2004. The following were his comments:

"I wanted to be a pilot since I was two years old. This was maybe because my parents worked at the airport where I usually accompanied them. They joke that even before I could talk, I talked about aeroplanes. And when you start flying, you dream of flying big jets."

Both captains were thankful to Air Seychelles and the government for accompanying them during their career and their families for their support.

As for CEO Kinnear, he commented that more Seychellois pilots in the captain ranks of Air Seychelles means that the company's advance planning strategy which he described as "the most important process for ensuring the steady growth of our national airline" has been proven right.

"With good advance planning and continuous investment in training of our pilots, Air Seychelles will be proudly presenting further Seychellois pilots and captains," he confidently added.

Air Seychelles currently employs a total of 93 pilots, 56 on its jet fleet and 37 on Twin Otters. There are 33 Seychellois pilots on the jet fleet while 32 others are flying Twin Otters.

After accumulating 500 hours flying time on the A320, Captains Lespoir and Elizabeth will be able to obtain what is known as a cross crew qualification which will permit them to also fly the A330.