Air Seychelles to restart Singapore flights-Service to Maldives and Mumbai, more planes to Johannesburg |05 May 2008

The airline says flights to Bangkok, Thailand, will cease from July 1 as the Far East destination is replaced by Singapore.
The first Singapore flight is now scheduled for June 30, and the Air Seychelles plane will be laying over there for the day trip.

The South African market is now posting double-digit growth in visitor arrivals, which is why the Johannesburg service is being increased. It will operate on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

The Maldives and Mumbai routes will be added to the network from October 26. Air Seychelles previously flew to these destinations with the smaller B737-700, but this was suspended in 2005 when the plane was returned to the lessor after reorganisation that came with opening of air access to Seychelles.

The Maldives service will be operated twice a week with onward connections to Johannesburg. The Saturday service to Male will extend to Mumbai and return via the same route on the following day.

The second flight to Male will be on a Wednesday and will extend to Singapore. This will return via the same route, arriving back in Seychelles on Friday, thus giving day trippers some 34 hours in Singapore.

Air Seychelles’ executive chairman, Captain David Savy, said: “The return to previous routes, together with the increase of flight frequencies, is necessary to achieve the objectives of increasing asset utilisation, meeting operational constraints, increasing productivity and enhancing revenue.”

He also said there is a need to restart flights to Singapore for operational reasons. The B767-200 aircraft has base maintenance done in South Africa, and it has become necessary to find an alternative provider.

Maintenance options on the B767-200 are not offered at any other destination except Singapore. Also, traffic rights can be exercised between Maldives and Singapore, as well as Maldives and Mumbai, thus helping to make those routes viable.