China proposes aircraft sale to Seychelles |30 May 2006

Led by the Senior Vice-President of CATIC (China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation), Wang Dawei, and accompanied by the Chinese Ambassador Geng Wenbing, the delegation met with Vice-President Belmont and chief executive officer of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA), Gilbert Faure, to suggest possible sales of the company’s range of commuter aircraft.

“China is building very good airplanes which are being proved in the world market and we would like to see whether we can supply these airplanes to give assistance to the blooming tourist business and the economy of the country,” said Mr Dawei after the visit to State House.

In his sales pitch to the vice-president, Mr Dawei focused on his company’s commuter aircraft, suitable for use on domestic inter-island flights.

CATIC is involved in the manufacture of a 19-seater turbo-prop plane which Mr Dawei said is similar to the Twin Otters currently in service with Air Seychelles, as well as a 50-seater plane, comparable with the national airline’s Shorts 360.

The Twin Otter equivalent R12 is on sale at between $3 million to $3.5 million while the Shorts-sized MA 60 costs around $13 million.

“What we are thinking is because the Twin Otter has been here for many years it is getting more difficult to get the spare parts and the maintenance become more expensive and it becomes difficult to keep a regular service,” said Mr Dawei.

He said that CATIC planes are currently in use in Fiji, in a similar environment to Seychelles.

Asked about VP Belmont’s response to the proposals, Mr Dawei said that, “he talked about his concern for improving the aviation service in the country so I think we would do our best to meet his thinking and requirements.”

CATIC is a subsidiary of the former Aviation Industries Corporation of China (AVIC) which oversees the research, development, production and sale of all military and civilian aircraft in China.