Minister Derjacques makes support visit to Air Seychelles |15 July 2021

Transport Minister Antony Derjacques made another visit to Air Seychelles on Monday and this visit was deemed as fruitful in many aspects.

Recently appointed acting chief executive of Air Seychelles, Captain Sandy Benoiton had the opportunity to lead the tour, which allowed the minister to meet with various employees, hear out and address some of their concerns, as well as have a greater insight into the different components of Air Seychelles.

Some of the concerns brought forward by the employees included:

• Physical infrastructure ‒ plans for renovation/upgrade of their workspace,
• Manpower ‒ possibility for recruitment or internal transfer (especially in the ground handling unit where there is a demand), and
• Job security and possible redundancy.

The employees also had a few suggestions in regards to the above, which were noted and taken into consideration. Amidst all the uncertainties, Minister Derjacques reassured them that he is working tirelessly to ensure that Air Seychelles lives on, even if that means many changes might have to be made along the way.

As the visit progressed from ground handling services to technical operations and ground service equipment repair up to head office, there were many interesting moments throughout. A few of those moments consisted of touring the finance floor in the presence of both acting CEO Benoiton and acting chief finance officer (CFO) Tyrian Gendron, followed by an enjoyable learning experience with the operation control centre’s team, and an honorable meet and greet with one of Air Seychelles’ long serving employees, Ireney Ernest, who occupies the role of manager emergency response within the safety and compliance department and has been with the airline for 41 years.

One of the main highlights of the day was at the technical operations department where Minister Derjacques was able to witness one of the domestic planes being worked on by engineers. History was also made upon visiting the equipment and tools store as Minister Derjacques became the first minister to ever formally go through the store, an observation made by Gustave Pragassen, head of technical operations.

In general, the minister was very pleased with his time at Air Seychelles, especially seeing the dedication and passion which emanated from numerous employees, the hard work they put in daily to keep the company going and simply just how well all the discussions went.

The Ministry of Transport will be conducting more visits to Air Seychelles in the near future, especially given the fact that there are still a few areas where the minister wishes to fully cover and certainly more employees to meet.

The accompanying photos were taken during the minister’s visit.

Press release from the Ministry of Transport