The Seychelles’ Airport is to once again welcome the arrival of Aeroflot with its first scheduled flight on Friday, April 2nd.
After a hiatus of 17 years, the Russian based airline with its hub in Moscow at the Sheremetyevo Airport, will have an Airbus 330 (300 series) on the Seychelles route with the capacity to carry 296 passengers.
This once-weekly scheduled flight will operate on Fridays only, landing at 9:55am and leaving at 11:05pm.
The airline which is amongst the longest serving airlines in the world currently serves 50 international destinations with points in Europe, Asia, America and the Middle East, has been showing great interest to return to the Seychelles since late October last year.
This was followed by a formal request in November to start operation in late 2020. However, with restrictions being caused by the pandemic there were some delays.
Aeroflot had for many years operated in Seychelles, that was between 1993 up to October 2003, with the closure of its office in Victoria in December the same year.
During the 10 years of operation in Seychelles, the airline carried passengers from Moscow to Seychelles with stops in Dubai. It also conducted services beyond a point, being Dar Es Salaam and Antananarivo.
Other International airlines are also eager to resume flights to the Seychelles’ route as demand for travelling increases in view of new measures put forward to attract visitors.
With regards to European carriers which have confirmed their operations are Edelweiss and Condor.
Edelweiss will resume its flights from Zurich on Saturdays as from April, whereas Frankfurt-based Condor is to come on Fridays only in October.
On the other hand, the French national carrier Air France is still remaining hopeful and has proposed to resume its services in June.
With further increase in demand from the Israeli visitors, Israel international carriers ARKIA and EL AL which both brought a significant number of visitors to the archipelago as of late last year, are also making their return with more chartered flights. ARKIA has planned to return this month and EL AL in April.
From the region, our neighbouring carrier, Air Mauritius is considering Adhoc chartered flights depending on traffic and is to be expected by the end of June.
The national airline, Air Seychelles has also planned to resume its services to Johannesburg and Tel Aviv as from this month and also to the Maldives in July. Seasonal flights to Dubai period 26th March to 29th May 2021 are also planned. Due to the unprecedented environment, all Air Seychelles flights will be subjected to the approval of the government including regulatory approval as well as that of the health authorities at each destination.
The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority’s (SCAA) Air Transport Officer Mr Kurtis Lespoir said that the summer schedule which runs from the end of March to late October looks promising though the situation as always remains dynamic.
“The increased in demand has been triggered by less restrictive measures put in place by the government and in addition to this it was announced that Seychelles will be welcoming visitors from across the globe as of March 25.”
Seychelles remains an alluring travelling destination for visitors who have been on lockdown for months,” said Mr Lespoir.
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