Air India, Air Seychelles to offer codeshare flights

Government-run Air India Friday said it has inked a codeshare agreement with Seychelles national carrier Air Seychelles, offering passengers enhanced connectivity to the Seychelles and Johannesburg from the city. The two carriers signed the pact Thursday, a release said.

Codesharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence. Under the new codeshare agreement, Air India will place its flights code 'AI' on Air Seychelles regional services from Mumbai to the Seychelles and Johannesburg, the release said.

In turn, Air Seychelles will place its flights code 'HM' on Air India domestic services to eight cities including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Kochi, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Trivandrum, and also on its international services between Mumbai and Bangkok.

"India has a huge latent market for leisure travel owing to the burgeoning middle class and rising disposable incomes. Not only are Indians travelling to international destinations more, the average spend on travel too is on the rise," Air India chairman and managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola said in the release.

As many as 62 million international passengers travelled from India in the last fiscal year, while another 26.89 million passengers came to India, he said quoting the official statistics. Air India is ensuring that it reaps the benefits of this growth in outbound and inbound travel by adding new destinations through its own network and alliances, the release said.

"This partnership with Air Seychelles will enable our customers having a direct access to the archipelago in the Indian Ocean," the release added. As per Air India, Air Seychelles will provide an additional 544 seats per week between the Seychelles and Johannesburg from December 10 to accommodate the growing demand during the upcoming winter and Easter period.

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"India is a very important market for Air Seychelles and we are pleased to grow our commercial ties with Air India as part of our strategy to offer our guests greater choice and connectivity," said Remco Althuis, chief executive officer, Air Seychelles.