Air Seychelles-Luxurious departure lounge for pearl class travellers |09 July 2007

Named the Salon Vallée de Mai, the lounge offers facilities never seen before locally. Its sofas and relaxing chairs, the classic interior design, the gently flowing water fountains and tropical lush green palm plants, provide an ambience of quiet elegance and high standard comfort, tranquility and spaciousness, which adds to the atmosphere of an exclusive club with luxurious and relaxing surroundings where passengers can unwind and experience the highest standard of luxury on the ground before boarding their flights.

In addition to that, there’s a full time serving bar at the disposal of those using the lounge; a 24-hour buffet serving a variety of meals in a separate dining area; a business area equipped with computers, telephone, photocopying and fax facilities; a complementary selection of international newspapers and magazines; a 42-inch Plasma TV with 24-hour international news channels, movies and documentaries; and rain forest shower facilities.

The Salon Vallée de Mai has the capacity to accommodate 90 persons at a time and besides Pearl Class passengers, it will also be available to frequent flyers Gold Card members, and those of other airlines operating in Seychelles.

Funded by the Air Seychelles, the exquisite lounge comes at a cost of US $1 million and was contracted to Allied Builders. Its interior design was conceived by IMA Interior Designs, and according to Air Seychelles’ chairman and chief executive, Captain David Savy, it reflects the Creole spirit that Air Seychelles so vehemently claims to fly and promote. 

He explained that the lounge is distinctly Seychelles and in many ways echoes ‘another world’ (Seychelles’ new international brand identity) as materials used reflect our islands.

Captain Savy said this in his official speech at the inauguration of the premium lounge, during which he emphasized that the launching of the luxurious facility is on par with the airline’s mission “to become the best service organization in the Indian Ocean and to deliver a unique service with a creole touch”.

He explained that the “marriage between timber, bamboo, raffia and granite is by choice and the furniture has been specially designed to resemble a certain créolité, which amid the modern conveniences embrace the Creole Spirit”. 

The honour of inaugurating the lounge went to Vice-President Joseph Belmont, who said that the inauguration of the lounge “is aimed at perfecting and fulfilling the airline’s (Air Seychelles) mission for the development of the Seychelles economy; to keep the Creole spirit flying and to compete with other airlines flying to our destination”.

He remarked that “for 35 years, the Seychelles International Airport had been operating without a CIP (Commercially Important People) lounge and our image was being affected”.

“The new lounge, designed to cater for the usage of a modern and efficient airline, and one which is continuously on the move for better, will serve to project the start of the last impression of our unique island destination to visitors, which is an essential element in any marketing strategy and promotion in the hospitality industry,” Vice-President Belmont added.