Air
Seychelles flies to Heathrow as from March 30, 2003.
Victoria,
December 2002 Air Seychelles
has announced that it will be moving its two weekly flights
out of London-Gatwick to London-Heathrow as from March 30,
2003.
The
airline's Executive Chairman, Captain David Savy has said: "Heathrow
being the premier airport in the United Kingdom offers more
domestic and worldwide connections and is definitely of greater
advantage to Air Seychelles. Additionally British Airways
which provides engineering support for Air Seychelles has an
extensive facility for B767s at Heathrow".
To date,
London-Heathrow offers a choice of connections to domestic,
European and transatlantic destinations which are not available
at London-Gatwick.
Captain
Savy explained that the availability of such connections from
London-Heathrow was very important for an upmarket destination
like Seychelles which attracts visitors from around the world.
"The
technical maintenance of our B767s is done by British Airways
and by shifting from Gatwick to Heathrow, the move of our flight
operations will allow more time for maintenance and also generate
cost savings," Captain Savy added.
The
move of Air Seychelles' flights operating out of London-Heathrow
is expected to bring an additional growth of 10% in traffic
on the London-Seychelles route.
Situated
in the west of London on the M4, the London Heathrow International
Airport is regarded as the world's busiest international airport
and the second busiest cargo port worldwide. The airport handles
over 64 million passengers per annum and serves 170 cities.
Over 90 airlines fly out of Heathrow, which has four terminals
and three runways.
Meanwhile,
Air Seychelles' has been operating out of London-Gatwick for
nearly twenty years . The national airline commenced operations
to the United Kingdom in October 1983 using a British Caledonian
DC10 aircraft on a wet lease agreement.