Air Seychelles has reported a strong performance in its ground handling business in 2018.
Between January and December last year, the carrier’s ground handling department handled a total of 452,385 incoming guests amounting to a 13 per cent increase compared to 2017, whilst the number of outgoing increased by 15 per cent reaching 475,471.
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 2,612 customer airlines operating mainly from Europe, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and the Arabian Gulf compared to 2,382 in 2017.
Air Seychelles chief operations officer, Sandy Benoiton 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.”
Additionally, the cargo team handled over 10,249 tonnes of cargo in 2018 resulting in a four per cent per cent increase in volumes compared to 2017. These the airline said volumes including both import and export cargo moved on a number of carriers operating to the Seychelles.
A total of 1,107 tonnes were exported from Seychelles across the globe including destinations where the airline operates. December was busiest month for the cargo team.
Air Seychelles chief commercial officer, Charles Johnson 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.”
