Air Seychelles Announces Radical Transformation, Cancels Longhaul Flights

I certainly hope the JFK-BEG flight isn’t cancelled; I’m going to Serbia in July! It was a miracle to have a direct route between the two cities for once.

It's a shame but it makes sense. I'm in the Seychelles right now. This place is amazing, the people are gentle and kind, and I recommend it to anyone looking for time enjoying nature. I wonder how this new traffic will affect the island.

Only rich people go to the Seychelles.

Very confused- is this only flights TO Paris or flights TO & FROM Paris? planning my trip in July.

I was in Seychelles and I am not rich

Rumors have it the route to CDG accounts for roughly 30% of total revenue, that is a significant cut...

Air Serbia is actually already getting chopped - they intra-European flights don't have proper business class anymore, and apparently they're announcing their new economy fare structure for European flights (JFK not affected) with a hand-baggage only option that won't include anything (airport check in, food onboard, miles will all cost extra).

Am I the only one confused by this sentence?

Remco Althuis, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles, said: “The launch of competing air services from Europe to Seychelles will significantly impact Air Seychelles’ flights to and from Paris, which account for approximately 30% of total passenger revenue at the airline, making the route unsustainable in the long-term.

So the CEO is giving up 30% of the revenue (like one third of the company??) without even trying to compete? They gave up DUS after like 5 months and are now giving up on all long-haul routes. Also inboud passanger and tourist numbers are constantly growing. (but yes the offered number of seats seems to outgrow this until the balance gets there)

I was always curious though how Emirates is doing with daily 2 (!) 777 flights. Are those full of rich russians in business? 🙂

@sarit

Really?

No, Air Seychelles is not planning to fly an empty plane to Paris to only sell tickets on the return. They are canceling the route.

I flew Air Seychelles in october last year from Johanesburg to Mahe and from Mahe to Mauritius. Both of my flights were suposed to be on the A330 but they changed to the A320. Both flights were FULL, both on business and economy class.
About half of the flight from JNB to Mahe was connecting to India. The airport is really small and when I left all the fleet was parked at Mahe, they dont seem to maximize the use of aircraft.
Flights to Madagascar were 1 or 2 a week only and to Mauritius I think they had 4 a week.

Whats the point of Etihad investing in an airline that has 2 planes?

Concerning Air Serbia, their long haul route is not in jeopardy. It is actually increasing to six per week this summer compared to five last year.

So... essentially Etihad is the grim reaper of the aviation world. Get touched ... eh ... bought by them and soon it will all be over. Air Berlin is dead. Alitalia is kept alive artificially (to be fair, Alitalia always was a candidate to go bust and numerous other airlines/investors have failed at turning it around).

That leaves Air Seychelles and Air Serbia to clonk out. Jet Airways and Virgin Australia seem to be doing reasonably well (EY only has a minority shareholding in either of them). FWIW Etihad seems to be doing more cost-cutting lately...

Lucky's review of their A330 is not useless. It will be good for historical purposes and for memories.

I do not regret flying aboard a TWA Boeing 747SP from BRU-AMS. I continued on the same plane to JFK. It was to be only one of two times aboard a 747SP for me.

So are they also cancelling flights to Johannesburg and to Mauritius?
No mention of those two in the article.

It is sad that Air Seychelles might be cancelling their long hauls to Paris as smaller nations (in remote locations) that depend on tourism (as part of their economy) need their own airlines to control and promote inbound tourism; these countries need to have control over the hotels, airlines, etc to protect their own workers living standards from greedy multinationals
As always, happy and safe flights