Air Seychelles reduces European network

Air Seychelles will adjust its European route network, the Indian Ocean Mahé Island-based airline said July 30, with plans to suspend its 2X-weekly Mahé-Dusseldorf route from September 10. Additionally, Air Seychelles’ Mahé-Paris Charles de Gaulle operation will be reduced from four to 3X-weekly flights from September 12.

“We have made the difficult decision to suspend flying to Dusseldorf after an in-depth review of the route showed that the service is unsustainable,” Air Seychelles CEO Roy Kinnear said.

The carrier launched the Dusseldorf route recently on March 30 and upgraded the Paris CDG route from three to 4X-weekly flights on March 28, 2017.

“Due to year on year increase of cost of fuel, an extremely competitive aviation market in Europe, and the high number of significant airlines already serving Seychelles though their connecting hubs, it unfortunately results in Air Seychelles being forced to consolidate these services,” Air Seychelles chairman Jean Weeling said.

“In addition, the volume of connecting traffic from our partner airlines over Dusseldorf [i.e. airberlin] has not lived up to expectations, making it harder to sustain the necessary passenger loads to meet our commercial objectives,” Kinnear said.

Kinnear cited weakened demand for air travel out of France as the carrier enters the off-peak season in September as the reasoning behind the reduction in Paris frequencies.

Air Seychelles operate Airbus A330-200s on its European routes, featuring a two cabin configuration with 18 business and 236 seats.