Air Seychelles, the small national airline of the Seychelles, is resuming long haul flights… even though it doesn’t have a plane capable of operating such service.
Continue reading: Air Seychelles Resumes Long Haul Flights, Temporarily, Using Etihad 787
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I flew Air Seychelles from/to Paris in 2016 on their A330, the same plane both ways. And, incidentally, I flew on the same machine again in 2018, but this time it was Fiji Airlines. It was S7-ADB, which now seems to be flying for Air Mauritius.
This is actually brilliant, and what ME carriers should be doing during the conflict: Lease/relocate aircraft onto routes from Europe to Asia/Africa/elsewhere. These long-haul aircraft can get the job done; CDG/LHR/FRA/MXP/MAD/AMS-SEZ/MRU/MLE/HKT/BKK/DPS, etc. Sure, in the past, they'd connect in AUH/DXB/DOH, but... not wise right now. Revert back once things 'calm down.'
…. and now for a little fun to liven up the proceedings ….
As it is getting closer to the announcement date for the 2026, World Airlines Rankings; I thought that it might be fun to offer my own top ten predictions.
1. Singapore Airlines.
2. Qatar Airlines.
3. Cathay Pacific.
4. ANA.
5. Air France.
6. Turkish Airlines.
7. Emirates.
8. Korean Airlines.
9. Japan Airlines.
10. EVA Air.
Perhaps Tim Dunn, has the inside track on some airline information which will contradict my predictions?
Did you forget to log-in again, or is this the faker? If it were Tim's list, there'd just be one airline on there... *cough* Otherwise, you forgot Etihad; remove Turkish; tie between JAL and ANA. No love for Qantas?
HI Ben, can you dig into QR aircraft utilization? It seems like they are flying wihtout stopping in Doha, such as London to Colombo (QR7419, A7-BAY) or London to KUL, etc. Are these just cardo flights?
An interesting submission 1990Bot. Actually Etihad slipped from 19th place in 2024, down to 26th place in 2025. It would take one massive improvement to jump into the top ten this year …. Yes?
That said, I do rate their A380 Suites experience and would place it in third position, after Singapore equal first with Air France. Air France outbound to Singapore was an exquisite experience, but returning via Paris is not an option for us. Because Singapore Airlines flies the A380 into LHR, that option becomes a no brainer for us.
Turkish Airlines are rated very highly in and around Europe. The London to Istanbul route is a very enjoyable experience. London to Cairo via an Istanbul stopover for a few days, is one of the only indirect flights I rate.
I have no experience of the Japanese duo, therefore, can hardly comment. As for Qantas, used them regionally but never long haul. I really do not care for their F seats, several others are preferred to Qantas.
Ben, really interesting article. I'm intrigued enough to take a look at the J pricing. It'd be great if other ME airlines would adopt this approach with flights to MLE.
Etihad is also Wet-Leasing Air Seychelles narrowbodies for routes like CAI for quite some time.
They might not be equity partners, but they are partners nonetheless.