(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles is set to get another direct flight to Europe when Switzerland’s leisure airline, Edelweiss Air, begins flights to the island nation from September next year. 

The airline announced last week that it will be offering regular, non-stop service from its base in Zurich to Seychelles during the European winter season beginning on September 22, 2018.

Departure flights from Zurich will be on Saturdays at 7.20 p.m. and return flights will leave the island nation’s international airport at Pointe Larue at 11.05 p.m. Flights will be done by one of its four Airbus A340-300, with a capacity of 314 seats.

Seychelles will now have direct flights to three German-speaking countries, and Seychelles' new regional manager of the Seychelles Tourism Board for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Edith Hunzinger, said she is very satisfied and amazed with the outcome of their small office.

The office made the achievements “through the hard work and great trade support during the past years,” said Hunzinger.

"During the European winter season -- the peak season for Seychelles travel -- we will now have two weekly flights from Frankfurt on Condor, one from Vienna on Austrian Airlines and one from Zurich on Edelweiss,” she said.

All three countries are currently among the top ten source markets for Seychelles in terms of visitor arrivals. Germany is the top market, sending 47,772 visitors to Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, from January to the first week of December. This represents a 29 percent increase over last year when Germany sent 37,029 visitors to the island nation.

The chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), Sherin Francis, said the announcement “clearly demonstrates how the buoyancy of the various source markets has created confidence in the travel world.”

“It is a development that will be warmly welcomed by the travel trade and the airline knows that it can count on our support for the success of the new route," she said.

Edelweiss Air -- an affiliate of Swiss International Airlines and a member of the Lufthansa Group -- operates a global network of 66 destinations in 32 countries.