| Seychelles and South Africa renew air services arrangements - 16.05.2013 In a meeting which took place in Pretoria last week, representatives of the Seychelles government, led by the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) chief executive Gilbert Faure and the South African government, led by the department of transport's director Vuwani Ndwamato met and concluded a liberal and flexible air services arrangement which will improve connectivity in the region and beyond.  Air Seychelles also recently increased the number of flights in operation to this ninth largest African country. The economic benefit cannot be overemphasised as more than 18,000 passengers travel on the South African- Seychelles route yearly for the past two years, with cargo transportation growing by 19% in 2012, compared to the previous year. “It has been a very fruitful conciliation, and we are happy of the outcome. It is a model for the region," said Mr Faure. “South Africa is an important hub in Africa and a gateway not only to the rest of Africa but also to southern America. This new agreement has established the framework necessary to facilitate such operations calling for further growth in people and cargo traffic. My ministry will continue to encourage the airlines to pursue partnership arrangements which will promote the implementation of the twin centre tourism concept as well as other business avenues which could be pursued by the community. In the end this is all part and parcel of our regional integration initiative as a member of the Southern African Development Community,” said the Minister for Home Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan, following the signing of the agreement.  The negotiations in South Africa came only days after a regional air transport conference which was held in Mauritius, whereby Seychelles strongly called for enhanced liberalisation to improve connectivity in the region. |
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