Special welcome for arrivals from Hong Kong |27 March 2013

The arrivals were treated to the traditional music of the Latroup Nasyonal and welcome gifts from staff of the Seychelles Tourism Board.

The Airbus 330 aircraft named Aldabra left Seychelles on Sunday with 70 Seychellois representatives from government, businesses and media amid a warm send off. Its journey back started at 6pm Hong Kong time and passengers had a one hour fifty-minute stopover in Abu Dhabi.

It was flown back under the command of Captain François Jackson.
On the flight were Chinese tourists coming to Seychelles for the first time.
They were full of praise for the hospitality of the cabin crew.

Information technology engineer Yu Rin was among the passengers.
He and his newly wedded wife Xiao Xiang Xiang told Nation they were excited to be in Seychelles for their honeymoon.

“We knew about Seychelles as a tourist destination from the internet and came to learn it is a place where you can enjoy sunshine and the hospitality of very special people,” he said, adding they found the food on the flight very delicious.

The 13-hour flight passed through Abu Dhabi and the next flight left Seychelles for Hong Kong at 3.40pm. There will be another departure tomorrow at the same time followed by a Sunday afternoon one.

The airport also saw the arrival in the afternoon of 200 Israeli tourists on a chartered flight (see separate story on page 5), the first of two such flights expected this year, but missing was the Kenya Airways Tuesday flight currently suspended “for commercial reasons until April 2”.