King Shaka International Airport welcomed Air Seychelles to Durban on their inaugural flight on March 30th commencing a new two-per-week service to Durban. Operating under flight code HM63, this flight will establish the second air link between Seychelles and South Africa after Johannesburg, where they fly five times weekly. It will be operated on an Airbus A320 aircraft that with two cabins split, offering 16 seats in business and 120 in economy class.

Terence Delomoney General Manager of King Shaka International said, “Today is a very significant day as it is now the 6th international airline that we have launched in the 18 months. This would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our partners and stakeholders that include EDTEA, Dube Tradeport, Trade and Investment KZN, Durban Tourism, TKZN, ACSA and others to ensure that KZN and Durban is the destination of choice. We as KSIA are very proud to be associated with these strategic partners and will continue to work closely with to bring more direct flights to King Shaka International. We want to thank Air Seychelles for choosing Durban as a destination and we want to encourage you to work closely with us and our partners to maintain this important connection between Durban and Seychelles and certainly take advantage on the growing connecting routes the both destinations enjoy.”

Delomoney continued, “I would like to take this opportunity of welcoming Air Seychelles to Durban and to mention that they are in great company as our airport has just been awarded the Best Regional Airport in Africa, Best Airport with under five million passengers a year and well as Best Airport Staff Excellence at the Skytrax 2017 World Airport Awards presented in Amsterdam recently. That is not all as our airport is now the second best airport in Africa through the ACI ASQ Awards and our airport also recently was positioned very well internationally as the 10th Most Punctual Airport in the world in our category by OAG Aviation Worldwide.”

Mr Hamish Erskine, CEO, Dube TradePort Corporation noted, “The KwaZulu-Natal Route Development Committee has been working tirelessly behind-the-scenes to secure the introduction of new regional and international air services to Durban’s King Shaka International Airport.  Strategically presenting data-driven business cases to airlines, we aim to show route planners, from around the world, the potential market that exists within Durban and the rest of KwaZulu-Natal. We are always motivated when a new airline takes up our offer and commences a new route into Durban; we had been in talks with Air Seychelles for the last 12 months for them to put on this new non-stop route.”

Colin Naidoo, Senior Corporate Affairs Manager said, “This new route to the wonderful exotic islands on the Seychelles will give South Africans an opportunity to discover their world while allowing the people of Seychelles to see what we have to offer as a city, province and country. We do know that more than 10,000 travellers have already visited Seychelles from South Africa last year and with these network enhancements we are confident that this number will increase in 2017. This is an incredible opportunity to boost trade, tourism and bring our people and bilateral relations even closer together.”