‘We are committed to the Seychelles market’ – Emirates |05 August 2022

The Emirates delegation in a souvenir photograph with President Ramkalawan: (L to r) Ms Prea, Sheikh Majid al Mualla, President Ramkalawan and Mr Ramtoola (Photo source: State House)

The Emirates airlines has pledged its commitment to the Seychelles market stating the island nation remains fundamental to its network.

The divisional senior vice-president for International Affairs, Sheikh Majid al Mualla, made the statement after paying a courtesy call on President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House yesterday morning.

He said the purpose of the visit was to thank the president personally and the government for their continued support post Covid-19 with the re-opening of the country’s borders.

“Seychelles is one of the destinations that re-opened very quickly after Covid-19 and at the Emirates we got very good support from the beginning. We wanted to make sure that we thank the government for the support and to convey this message,” said Sheikh Majid al Mualla.

Seychelles closed down its borders in March 2020 as one of the measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 and fully re-opened to the world a year later.

Sheikh Majid al Mualla said business has since picked up.

“We used to have daily flights and now we have twice daily, so this indicates an increase in passengers and cargo as well. We have noticed that it was increasing pre-Covid19, but unfortunately the pandemic had an impact but now the numbers are back to normal,” he explained.

Emirates has been flying to Seychelles for the past twenty years. It initially started with four flights a week and gradually increased to twice daily throughout the week.

According to the airline’s website, last year the airline carried 19 million passengers worldwide from 2021 to date.

Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, it is presently the largest airline in the Middle East operating over 3,600 weekly flights to over 152 destinations.

Sheikh Majid al Mualla said Seychelles remains one of the key destinations, as it has become very popular for the Middle East and Europe, “so we are bringing people from around the world to Seychelles,” and the company remains committed to the market.

“We are committed to this market. We always engage the tourism board, the civil aviation and their business community and we promote Seychelles and our network. We will continue to do so as this is one of the markets that is fundamental to our network,” he concluded.

The airline is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group, which is owned by the government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai.

Yesterday’s delegation to State House also included Oomar Ramtoola, who is the manager Indian Ocean Islands and Denise Prea, who is the country manager – Seychelles.

Patsy Canaya