The FINANCIAL — Air Seychelles and Air Madagascar have strengthened their codeshare cooperation with the aim of bringing more travellers to both Seychelles and Madagascar, while increasing travel choice in the Indian Ocean.
As part of the deal, Air Madagascar will expand its current codeshare agreement with Air Seychelles by placing its “MD” flight code on four weekly Air Seychelles flights between the Malagasy capital of Antananarivo and Seychelles, as well as on four weekly Air Seychelles’ services between Seychelles and Abu Dhabi operated on Tuesdays, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays.
The expanded agreement will increase guests’ travel choice with convenient one-stop connections between the Great Red Island – as Madagascar is known after its distinctly coloured soil – and Abu Dhabi via Seychelles. Abu Dhabi is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the Middle East and provides tourists with attractions varying from the exciting Formula 1, spacious shopping malls to cultural sites such as the famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, according to Air Seychelles.
Furthermore, this expansion will boost the flow of trade and tourism between Madagascar and Seychelles and beyond.
Roy Kinnear, Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles, said: “Deepening our relationship with Air Madagascar will enable us to better promote tourism in the Indian Ocean utilizing our four-weekly Air Seychelles Antananarivo services.
“As a leading airline in the Indian Ocean and a member of the Vanilla Alliance, we are committed to improving air connectivity in the region to ensure visitors can easily fly to our beautiful islands, and this includes enhancing access to our friendly neighbour Madagascar.”
Gilles Filiatreault, Chief Executive Officer of Air Madagascar, said: “As the national airline of Madagascar, one of our main goals is to connect more people to our beautiful home and drive more growth in the tourism industry.
“Our enhanced codeshare partnership with Air Seychelles fits naturally into our strategy of opening up our island and enabling more travellers to explore Madagascar, whose attractions such as ring-tailed lemurs and majestic baobab trees are known all over the world.
“By entering into this expanded agreement, we also offer great chances to local travellers as well as tremendous opportunities to business men, allowing them to discover the Seychelles and Abu Dhabi, to appreciate new horizons for tourism benefits and explore new fields for business interests.
“We will continue to work closely with Air Seychelles to grow our network reach and provide holidaymakers with more choice and flexibility when planning travel to Madagascar.”
The new codeshare flights will be on sale and for travel from September and can be booked through the Air Madagascar and Air Seychelles websites, sales offices and contact centres, as well as travel agents.
