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Air Seychelles adds two new Twin Otters to its fleet |01 August 2014


Air Seychelles yesterday welcomed two new DHC6-400 aircraft to its domestic service fleet.
A special ceremony to mark the occasion took place at the Air Seychelles VIP lounge.

The announcement for the purchase of the DHC-6 Twin Otter series 400 aircraft was made last October in a deal between the national airline of Seychelles and Viking Air Limited in Canada.

The two Twin Otters along with a third aircraft which is expected in the country next year have cost around R250 million.

The aircraft flew a total of 17,000km from British Columbia Canada to Seychelles and they were operated by Air Seychelles captains Sandy Benoiton and Eddie Cesar. The aircraft made several stops before arriving in Seychelles – Churchill and Iqaluit (Canada), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Reykjavik (Iceland), Malmo (Sweden), Nis (Serbia), Aswan (Egypt) and the final stop was Nairobi (Kenya).

It was President James Michel alongside Minister for Home Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan and chief executive officer of Air Seychelles Manoj Papa who had the honour to cut the ribbons to officially welcome the Twin Otters – which have been baptised Isle of La Digue and Isle of Bird – to the Air Seychelles fleet.



This took place in the presence of Vice-President Danny Faure, ministers, Air Seychelles board members, staff and other distinguished guests.
During the ceremony Mr Papa offered President Michel a model of the Twin Otter as a souvenir gift.

“It gives great pride not only to me but to the people of Seychelles for welcoming the two new aircraft to the Air Seychelles fleet. After the meltdown in the aviation industry, Air Seychelles took a brave step in entering into partnership with the Etihad Airlines and today is proof that Air Seychelles is striving to expand its services so that they can move forward in the right direction,” said President Michel.

“Air Seychelles plays an important role in our economic development and I would like to congratulate the Air Seychelles staff for their devotion and professionalism so that Air Seychelles becomes the major airline in our regions,” President Michel added.

It was Captain Eddy Cesar and Captain Ronny Morel who had the honour to taxi in the aircraft under the water canon salute before the guests could have a tour of them.

“The new Twin Otters form part of the modernisation plan that Air Seychelles has for its domestic service and the aircraft will be enhancing the time of service that Air Seychelles want to offer to clients. It has a new cockpit designed with technology system that at ground level Air Seychelles could monitor the aircraft during their flight. It also has a bigger capacity engine that will reduce the duration of flights to go to different destinations,” stated Minister Morgan.

“The arrival of the new aircraft will not have an impact on the price of tickets as the pricing system will remain as it is. It will only change depending on such factors as fuel cost,” Minister Morgan added.

In his address Mr Papa said: “Today is an amazing and exciting moment not only for me but for the whole team of air Seychelles; I would like to thank each and every one of them in turning our business around.”

“The arrival of these new aircraft marks an exciting new chapter for us. The past two years has been an amazing success for us and an awesome journey for Air Seychelles. Our domestic business represents 40% of our overall traffic and it is our critical part of our business. We do believe that we can contribute to the domestic business and take it to the next level.”

Meanwhile Air Seychelles has announced that it is expected to welcome its first Airbus A320 in December.

 

 

 

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