(Seychelles News Agency) - The Seychelles' national carrier, Air Seychelles, started direct, twice-weekly flights with its new Airbus to Düsseldorf in Germany on Thursday.

The Airbus A330, named ‘Vallée de Mai’ after the UNESCO-listed nature reserve on the second-largest island of Praslin, joined the Air Seychelles fleet on Tuesday. It was flown in by female Captain Nicole Chang Leng and First Officer Ronny Morel and carried 44 passengers.

Accommodating 18 guests in business class and 236 in economy, the A330 will bring its first passengers from Düsseldorf to Seychelles on Saturday morning.

The Airbus carried 44 passengers on an additional commercial flight. (Patrick Joubert, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

The new route is part of the national airline’s expansion plans in 2017, which is targeting Europe and the Indian Ocean region. Air Seychelles already has direct flights to Paris, the French capital.

Air Seychelles’ chief executive Roy Kinnear said, “The aircraft’s colourful tail will soon be seen even more around the world, increasing our brand presence in important markets in Europe and the Indian Ocean.”

Europe remains the Seychelles' primary market for tourism, which is the main contributor to the island nation’s economy.

Kinnear added that: "Aviation and tourism go hand in hand, and the success of Air Seychelles is inextricably linked to the success of Seychelles as a whole.”

The aircraft was flown in by female Captain Nicole Chang Leng, accompanied by First Officer Ronny Morel (Patrick Joubert, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

Air Seychelles now operates a fleet of four Airbus including two A330-200 series aircraft and two single-aisle A320 aircraft. The national carrier has a total of 10 Aircrafts in its fleet.

The Seychelles' national airline on Thursday also launched flights to Durban, its second destination in South Africa, bringing the total number of non-stop flights between the two countries to seven per week.  

Air Seychelles was established in 1978 and began long-haul service in 1983. The airline offers international flights to Abu Dhabi, Antananarivo, Beijing, Johannesburg, Mauritius, Mumbai and Paris on top of offering daily domestic flights to Praslin and charter services on several islands in the archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.