Air Seychelles flies into India with three services

The national carrier of Republic of Seychelles today entered the Indian market with three flights to Mumbai, first of which landed today.
Announcing the launch, Air Seychelles Chief Executive Manoj Papa said the tri-weekly flights (operating under code HM 260) would meet the growing demand for business and leisure travel between the two nations, as well as from the Indian Ocean Rim and East African regions.
"Our three weekly services, which have a capacity of over 21,000 annual seats, will increase the flow of tourism and trade from India into Seychelles and help boost traffic to our archipelago from the wider Asian region," Papa said.

The airline has optimised its schedule to offer two- way connectivity from Mumbai to Chennai, New Delhi and Hyderabad for both inbound and outbound passengers, he said.
This will be in arrangement with Jet Airways, as Air Seychelles has a 40 per cent equity partnership with the UAE- based Etihad Airways, which owns 24 per cent in the Naresh Goyal-promoted Indian carrier.
Air Seychelles expects strong traffic to the Indian Ocean country and its new destinations like Dar-es-Salaam, Mauritius and Johannesburg, which have large Indian population, he said.

"We will continue to work closely with our equity partner, Etihad Airways, which has a strong and growing presence in India, and our Etihad partner, Jet Airways, to ensure our on-going success in this exciting market."

The airline will operate an Airbus A320 with a twin- cabin setting of 16 business and 120 economy class seats from Mumbai on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. First of the tri- weekly flights bound for Mumbai landed at the airport today.
The flight will leave Mumbai at 4 am and arrive in Seychelles at 7 am the same day. The return flight will depart from Seychelles at 8:45 pm and land here at 2:55 am the next day.
While the Indo-Seychelles trade stood at a mere USD 53.7 million in 2013, the island nation is a top destination for honeymooners from India and also Bollywood film shoots.