Air France and Air Seychelles today signed a landmark codeshare agreement to provide travellers with enhanced connections between France, wider Europe and Seychelles.
The agreement was signed between Roy Kinnear, Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles and Frédéric Gagey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air France, and follows the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two airlines in April 2015.
The partnership will see Air Seychelles place its "HM" flight code on Air France's domestic flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and six of the largest cities in France: Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice and Toulouse.
In addition, the "HM" code will appear on Air France's European services between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Athens, Berlin, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Manchester, Munich and Zurich. Altogether, Air Seychelles will codeshare on 157 weekly domestic and regional flights.
This, combined with its codeshare service over Abu Dhabi with its partner Etihad Airways, provides unparalleled global access to the Seychelles.
Air France will, in turn, codeshare on Air Seychelles' three-per-week non-stop service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Seychelles, and on domestic flights between Mahé and Praslin, the second-biggest island in the archipelago and the home of the famous Vallée de Mai nature reserve. In total, the French flag carrier will see its "AF" code appear on 18 weekly flights operated by Air Seychelles.
Air Seychelles commenced a three-per-week, non-stop service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Seychelles in July 2015, replacing a twice-weekly service via Abu Dhabi since July 2014. The flights are operated on an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a twin-cabin configuration, with 18 Business Class and 236 Economy Class seats.
Mr Gagey said: "Air France welcomes this partnership with Air Seychelles, which provides our customers with new travel opportunities to the popular island group and underlines our commitment to strengthening air connectivity in the Indian Ocean region. "We look forward to building on this agreement to provide our customers with even more travel benefits, and at the same time strengthening our respective business operations."
Mr Kinnear added: "We are pleased to sign this major codeshare agreement with Air France, who we consider a valued partner in our network development strategy for France and neighbouring Europe. "We look forward to strengthening our cooperation in subsequent phases, through lounge access and cargo cooperation. Two-way trade between Seychelles and France totalled USD $229 million in 2014, and with 60 tonnes of weekly bellyhold capacity on our Paris-Charles de Gaulle service, there are opportunities for growth."
Related Content
