Sri Lanka (Commonwealth Union)_ According to the latest announcement from Air Seychelles, the airline will operate two flights a week between Mahe, Seychelles, and Colombo, Sri Lanka, beginning in June. The maiden flight will depart the Seychelles at 22:05 on 20 June 2023, and arrive four hours later in Colombo. The route will be served by an Airbus A320 Neo aircraft with 12 business class and 156 economy class seats.
Charles Johnson, Air Seychelles’ chief commercial officer, expressed delight over the launch. He said, “We are very excited about this opportunity to connect the Seychelles with Sri Lanka. A destination in its own right with excellent opportunities for tourism, medical care, and trading will benefit all Seychellois. Additionally, our upcoming collaboration with Sri Lankan Airlines will enable passengers to purchase a single ticket for travel beyond Colombo to multiple destinations in Asia, thereby reducing travel times and offering competitive prices.”
Through a potential collaboration with Sri Lankan Airlines, the Colombo service will provide over 20 connections, facilitating convenient single-stop connections to many destinations in India, Bangladesh, and popular tourist destinations such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Sydney. According to Sandy Benoiton, the acting chief executive officer, the newly added routes and destinations will improve the airline’s regional service and connectivity throughout southeast Asia and the world. He stated, “This new destination [Colombo] will strengthen our regional service and provide improved connectivity to the south-east Asia region and beyond. This is a high-potential market, and we look forward to exploring what lies ahead”.
With its A320neo aircraft, the Seychelles airline currently operates international flights to Johannesburg, Mauritius, Mumbai in India, and Tel Aviv in Israel. Along with charter flights to other islands in the archipelago, it also runs regular internal services with nearly 30 round trips every day between Mahe and Praslin, the second-largest island in the Seychelles. In order to celebrate the launch, Air Seychelles has provided a special web promotion from SCR 6,800 until April 25, 2023, for travel from June 20 to September 30, 2023, based on seat availability. Air Seychelles has also begun serving the renowned Seybrew lager beer on all flights as of 1 April 2023, making it the airline’s preferred beer.
