(Seychelles News Agency) - The resumption of flights by Aeroflot to Seychelles in October was discussed earlier this week in a meeting between Antony Derjacques, Minister for Transport,  and a delegation of the airline led by the Ambassador of Russia to Seychelles, Artyom Kozhin.

The airline, which ceased its operation to the island nation in May, will operate three weekly flights.

According to the Ministry of Transport in a communique on Wednesday, during the meeting, Derjacques highlighted the important contributions made by Aeroflot in the economic recovery of Seychelles from the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that since it resumed scheduled flights to Seychelles in 2021, Aeroflot has was consistent in its performance driving up tourist arrivals from Russia from under 15,000 in 2019 to more than 38,000 in 2023.

"As a result, Russia now stands in the top five of our tourist arrivals week on week. We are very pleased with this achievement. It is in this spirit and in recognition of its contribution to our socio-economic development that we are rallying the support of all stakeholders to ensure the smooth resumption of Aeroflot in Winter 2024," said Derjacques. 

On his side, Ambassador Kozhin emphasised the achievements made by Aeroflot since it resumed flights to Seychelles.

He said through this operation, the tourism profile of Seychelles has seen a significant hike in Russia, spurring demand for travel to the islands, and reiterated the remarkable numbers of tourist arrivals from Russia in 2023, which is the highest on record in over a decade.

Kozhin expressed appreciation for all the support extended to the airline in ensuring it can conduct flights to Seychelles as a testament of the good bilateral relations between the two countries.

The representatives from Aeroflot had an opportunity to brief the minister on some operational challenges they are facing.

Derjacques reassured the Russian delegation that through a multi-stakeholder approach, the government will find meaningful solutions to address any hurdles that they are facing.

He called for a cohesive and collaborative approach locally among key stakeholders to ensure the airline can resume the flights as planned later this year.

"We need to recognise the domino effect of Aeroflot's operation to Seychelles. Everyone in the country benefits either directly or indirectly. Henceforth, it is important that we work towards ensuring that we can achieve year-round service from the airline by creating the right conditions to facilitate their operation," he added. 

According to the latest visitor arrivals figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, there were 18,402 visitors from Russia in 2024, an increase of 3 percent from the figures of 2023. Russia is the third largest market for visitor arrivals.  

Germany still leads with 29,149, a 40 percent increase from 2023, while France is second with 20,050, a decrease of 4 percent from last year.

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, saw an increase of 3 percent in the total of visitors at 160,359 arrivals from January to June 12 in 2024 compared to 155,079 last year. However, for week 23 there has been a decrease of 15 percent compared to 2023. Only 4,267 visitors arrived in Seychelles in week 23 in 2024 compared to 5,001 last year.