(Seychelles News Agency) - The Seychelles International Airport has welcomed 300,003 arriving passengers as of week 38, marking a strong recovery in travel demand, following a slower period in previous months.

The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) said in a press statement that it remains confident it will meet and potentially surpass its 2024 projections, which stand at over 420,000 passenger arrivals.

The visitor arrival shows a steady rise in travel to Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. It reinforces the Seychelles International Airport's status as a vital hub for regional travel, and an increasingly important gateway for international visitors, contributing significantly to the nation’s economy.

The chief executive, Garry Albert, commented, “These numbers are a clear indication that we are on track to achieve our targets for the year. With the winter season beginning at the end of October, we anticipate even greater volumes of passengers as major airlines resume flights to Seychelles.”

Several international airlines are resuming operations in alignment with the European winter season. The key airlines returning to Seychelles in the third and fourth quarters of 2024 include Condor, which resumed services on September 21, Edelweiss on September 22, and Aeroflot on October 2.

These are in addition to Emirates’ new connecting flight between Seychelles and Madagascar since September 3, and the anticipated return of Turkish Airlines, which is poised to resume services on October 28.

Also expected this year is the non-stop charter flight operated by Sichuan Airlines, from Chengdu Province in China, due in November.