Air Seychelles and Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines have signed a codeshare agreement covering an initial four routes.

The accord was penned Sept. 12 in Istanbul, with codesharing to start Oct. 15. Under the agreement, Air Seychelles, the flag carrier of the Indian Ocean archipelago off the coast of East Africa, will place its code on Turkish’s route connecting Mahé (SEZ) in the Seychelles with Istanbul (IST).

The Air Seychelles code will also be also placed on two Turkish routes from IST, giving the carrier’s passengers the opportunity to connect through the Star Alliance member's hub. The code will be on Turkish’s flights connecting IST with both Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Tel Aviv (TLV).

The Turkish code will be placed on Air Seychelles' domestic route between SEZ and the island of Praslin (PRE).

In a joint statement, the airlines said the agreement “is planned to be expanded in the future.”

Turkish CEO Bilal Ekşi said: “We are pleased to sign this codeshare agreement with Air Seychelles and aim to improve our partnership to maximize the travel opportunities offered to our passengers through our flight networks. We believe that this partnership will not only bring benefits to both carriers from a commercial perspective, but also improve the cultural and tourism relations between two countries.”

Air Seychelles Acting CEO Sandy Benoiton said that adding Turkish’s code to “our domestic flights between Mahe and Praslin [enables] a single-ticket transaction for seamless travel to Seychelles’ second largest island.”

Air Seychelles operates a fleet of five de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter-400 turboprop aircraft and two Airbus A320neo aircraft.