New Twin Otter aircraft joins Air Seychelles fleet |15 October 2015

Air Seychelles yesterday officially welcomed home the newest member of its domestic fleet, a DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400 aircraft.

The turboprop aircraft has been named Isle of Denis after a small coral island lying 95km northeast of Mahé.

The aircraft’s long journey from Canada to Seychelles covered a total distance of more than 16,770km. The flight path began in Calgary, Canada, where Isle of Denis was outfitted with larger fuel tanks to increase its range, before moving through Europe and Africa, where the aircraft made refuelling stops at seven airports.

The longest leg of the journey was the penultimate sector between Aswan, Egypt and Nairobi, Kenya, which spanned 2,950km and took approximately 10 hours.

The Isle of Denis is the final of three DHC-6 Twin Otter series 400 to be delivered to Air Seychelles as part of an order placed with Viking Air Limited in 2013 at a cost of $6.5m .The two other operational aircraft were delivered last year (2014).

Registered under the Seychelles civil aircraft register as S7-DNS, the 19-seater Isle of Denis is the sixth Twin Otter in Air Seychelles’ domestic fleet and will operate scheduled inter-island services between Mahé, Praslin and also chartered flights to other islands in the archipelago.

Its first registered voyage will be a 25-minute flight to Denis Island tomorrow.

Air Seychelles’ chairman and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan described the arrival of the new Twin Otter aircraft as “a proud moment for Air Seychelles, which is continuing to invest in the future of the airline, its people and the country of Seychelles”.

He said this after the aircraft had received the traditional water canon salute.

The minister was later joined by Vice-President Danny Faure, the Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange, the chief executive of Air Seychelles Roy Kinnear and chief pilot turboprop fleet Mervin Mondon in cutting the ribbon to officially welcome home the Isle of Denis.

Also present to witness the event were the chief executive of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) Gilbert Faure, SCAA chairman David Savy, staff of Air Seychelles and of SCAA, other tourism officials and a group of 65 children from the President’s Village and the Anse Boileau primary school, specially invited by Air Seychelles for the occasion.

“This huge capital investment by Air Seychelles represents a belief and a sign of confidence by the government and our partner Etihad Airways in the growth of our tourism industry in the form of domestic transportation between our island and also the development of Air Seychelles,” said Minister Morgan.

For his part Minister St Ange congratulated Air Seychelles on its achievement and its big investment, stressing that delivery service is a key part in the tourism industry and that the new plane is a new addition that will help the Seychellois population as well as visitors to Seychelles.

Mr Kinnear said they were delighted to welcome the new Twin Otter into their fleet which rounded up several recent developments aimed at strengthening the domestic operations.

“The Twin Otters are tried and tested aircraft that are perfect for our island hopping flights. They are capable of landing and taking off from short island airstrips, operate well in the saline, humid environment of the tropics and are good at handling the challenging weather conditions of Seychelles,” he said.

“With such characteristics, it is easy to see what makes them popular with our pilots, who have the opportunity of gaining valuable flying experience with the Twin Otter fleet before transitioning to our international jet fleet operations,” he added.

Air Seychelles currently has 24 Seychellois pilots flying turboprop aircraft on domestic routes.

The special group of children from the President’s Village children’s home and the Anse Boileau primary school were later treated to a special sightseeing flight over the Seychelles islands.

The children received commemorative certificates and, upon landing, had a chance to speak to and take photographs with Air Seychelles pilots and cabin crew.

The Isle of Denis was blessed by the Anse Royale parish priest Father Roger De Comarmond of the Roman Catholic Church.