Seychelles is looking to increase its air connectivity to the world and negotiations have been undertaken with a group of countries with the aim of getting more direct flights to the island nation, said a top government official recently.

The Minister for Transport, Antony Derjacques, and the chief executive of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA), Gary Albert along with Air Seychelles, attended the International Civil Aviation Negotiating event (ICAN-2024), held recently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

During the event, which took place from October 21-25, Seychelles held negotiations with around 17 countries and signed agreements with seven countries. These included Germany, Eswatini, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Turkey, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Seychelles also discussed several issues, with Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Spain.

Derjacques told reporters, "The signing of these agreements is a success because it allows us to develop our connectivity, through airlines, with these countries."  

The CEO of SCAA gave more details on the agreements signed and said that with Malaysia, Seychelles talked about having a direct connection to Asia.

"We have noticed that we have a gap in terms of direct connectivity to Asia, and we are looking at a country in Asia, that would like to take this route, while we have also negotiated with China, to see if they have an airline that could take this route," he explained.  

Seychelles also negotiated with Germany, one of the country's biggest tourism markets, where the number of airlines from the European nation is expected to increase.  

Currently, only German airline, Condor, resumed services to Seychelles in September but according to Albert, there is interest from Germany's flag carrier, Lufthansa.  

Seychelles has held negotiations with other Airlines, such as Saudi Arabia's FlyNas to come to Seychelles, and also with India's Indigo.

Indigo, according to Derjacques, has agreed to start flying to Seychelles from February 2025.

Albert also pointed out that during their event, the delegation was to talk to other airlines to find out, why they have stopped operating direct flights to Seychelles, or are only operating seasonally.

"We had this conversation with them and we understood that there is interest, but with a lack of airplanes available, these airlines have had to prioritise their more profitable markets, although that is expected to be rectified by the end of the year,"he shared.

During the event in Malaysia, the delegation from Seychelles visited the Subang International Airport in Kuala Lumpur to see how it was constructed and get some ideas for the redevelopment of the Seychelles International Airport.

"They were able to give us an estimation of how much it cost to construct the airport, while they showed us the modern facilities available at the airport, and they also showed us the amount of development that can happen around an airport," explained Derjacques.  

The Seychelles International Airport Masterplan was completed earlier this year and the last presentation was made to the Cabinet on June 26. As the Cabinet still had some reservations about certain infrastructures and the financial plans, these two components are being explored further.