Air Seychelles ground handling and cargo business record strong performance in 2018

Between January and December last year, the ground handling department handled a total of 452,385 incoming guests amounting to a 13% increase compared to 2017, whilst the number of outgoing guests increased by 15% amounting to 475,471 guests.

Combining both inbound and outbound travel including the domestic network Air Seychelles alone carried a total of 454,970 guests.

Following the upsurge in the number of carriers operating at the Seychelles International Airport, in 2018 the airline's ground handling department also handled a total of 2,612 customer airlines operating mainly from Europe, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and the Arabian Gulf compared to 2,382 in 2017.

Sandy Benoiton, Chief Operations Officer of Air Seychelles said: "During the third quarter of 2017 there was an increase in the number of airlines operating at the Seychelles International Airport.

"To ensure that we meet the service level agreements with all these airlines handled by Air Seychelles significant changes have been made to our internal processes within the ground operations area as well as considerable investment within our ground support and equipment department.

"As part of the plan to improve our ground handling service, we will continue to invest in our people by providing adequate service delivery training and resources to ensure that Air Seychelles continues to improve on the service delivery target with these airlines including our national carrier, together with the support of other stakeholders including the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, Customs, Immigration and others.

"Despite the day to day challenges, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our ground operations team for their devotion and for keeping up the great team spirit throughout. I would also like to encourage everyone to always give their best at all times to ensure that our level of service remains on par with the global practice."

Additionally the cargo team handled over 10,249 tons of cargo in 2018 resulting in a 4% per cent increase in volumes compared to 2017. These volumes including both import and export cargo moved on a number of carriers operating to Seychelles.

A total of 1,107 tons were exported from Seychelles across the globe including destinations where the airline operates. To date the festive month of December remains the busiest month for the cargo team.

Charles Johnson, Chief Commercial Officer of Air Seychelles said: "During the past year through collaborated efforts the cargo team went that extra mile to secure new revenue opportunities with importers and exporters both locally and internationally as part of our strategy to grow our cargo business.

"This remarkable achievement is the result of great team work to further strengthen our customer value proposition and for that I am proud to compliment the cargo team for delivering excellent results."