Air Seychelles aims to make Chennai its Asia hub |27 November 2010

He was addressing Indian travel agents, tour operators and media in two separate workshops held recently in Chennai to mark the inaugural flight there on November 15.

“Mumbai was supposed to be the hub of our operations, as per our bilateral agreement, but as the Chennai sector is more popular for leisure tourists and medical tourism we decided to launch a service to Chennai,”  said Captain Savy.

“Many Seychellois travel to Chennai for medical and other purposes, including business trips, and we have many workers of Indian origin coming to Seychelles from and around that area.”

Captain Savy told the Indian travel agents and journalists that the Seychelles government provides free education and healthcare to its citizens, and patients are sponsored by the state for overseas health treatment for procedures such as bypass surgery that cannot be performed in Seychelles.

Chennai has become the preferred medical tourism destination for Seychellois as it offers value for money and high-quality medical facilities, he added.

The direct Chennai-Seychelles air link was in response to the increasing number of arrivals from the Indian sub-continent and the demand from the local Indian community in Seychelles for direct air access to India.

Air traffic between Seychelles and India has been increasing during the past few years at a rate of 5,000-6,000 trips every year.

Before Air Seychelles launched the Chennai flights, most passengers were travelling to and from India on other airlines, which meant a change of planes and long transit periods. This problem has now been solved by our national airline.

Air Seychelles operated flights to Mumbai between 2001 and 2005, but due to fierce competition from other carriers it withdrew the service.

“Now we are confident there is enough demand on the India-Seychelles route to fill our wide-bodied 767-200 aircraft,” Captain Savy told the gathering at the Vivanta Taj Hotel in Chennai.

Among its future plans, Air Seychelles aims to promote Chennai as a cultural and shopping centre to its travellers. It has chosen Global Air Transport Services as its general sales agent.

The weekly flight to Chennai leaves Seychelles on Monday evening at 7.40pm, taking 4 hours 20 minutes, then goes on to Singapore, returning at 12.25am on Thursday.