(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles once again welcomed the blue, white and red-tailed aircraft of Air France, which touched down at Pointe Laure international airport on Wednesday.    

Air France touched down in Seychelles at 6.20 a.m. with 222 passengers onboard the Airbus A330-200. The airline is taking over from its subsidiary, Joon, which stopped operations to the island nation earlier this year. 

The French flag carrier will be providing three weekly flights between Seychelles and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. The flights will be on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays with arrival in the island nation at 6.20 a.m. and departure two hours later. 

Flights will be operational throughout the winter season from October 27 to March 28, 2020, by the Airbus A330-200 with a total of 224 seats. 

The previous French Ambassador to Seychelles, Lionel Majesté-Larrouy, had said in September that “Seychellois can travel directly to Paris and the French can come here directly. Seychellois can enjoy a shopping experience in the French capital and from now till March 2020, there is a promotional fare of $610 for return flights.” 

France is currently the second leading country when it comes to visitor arrivals to Seychelles with over 33,000 French nationals coming to Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, since the start of the year. 

Air France currently does not have any competition on this direct route between Seychelles and France since Air Seychelles stopped flight operations to Paris in April last year. 

According to a press release from Air France, flight offers by the airline are additional to that of its partners. 

“Customers will thus be able to easily continue their trip to Praslin in the Seychelles, from Mahe, thanks to an offer of code-shared flights with Air Seychelles, or join Mahe from Nairobi, Kenya, thanks to six weekly frequencies on a code-share basis with Kenya Airways,” the airline said.