Air Seychelles, the national airline of the
Republic of Seychelles, has reported a net profit of US$1 million
for the 2012 financial year. The profit follows three years of
significant losses.
The positive result comes just 12 months
after Etihad Airways acquired a 40% stake in the airline and was
awarded a five year management contract.
The Chairman of Air Seychelles, Joel Morgan,
said the past year had been focused on reshaping the business of
the iconic Indian Ocean airline for success.
“The
choice of Etihad Airways as a strategic partner has been the right
one. Working with our new partner, we have had to make some hard
decisions to turn the airline around. We are now seeing the
successful results of our strategy,” Mr. Morgan said. “To
record a profit after the immense challenges we faced a year ago
is an incredible achievement. I am proud of the enormous progress
Air Seychelles has made. The recovery of Air Seychelles is a new
chapter not only in our airline’s history—but our nation’s. I am
confident we have now laid the ground work for sustainable
profitability and our brightly-coloured aircraft will cheer the
skies for years to come.”
Chief Executive Officer
of Air Seychelles, Cramer Ball, said the airline had achieved a
profit by “looking at the cost-base, and then stripping down the
business right across the airline’s operations to find the right
shape and size for our national carrier. We
introduced strict fiscal control in parallel with business process
re-engineering to make our operation more efficient. We are a very
different business today.”
He attributed this
success to leveraging the economies of scale and synergies arising
from the equity alliance with shareholder, Etihad Airways.
This entailed the renegotiation of contracts for catering,
ground handling and inflight entertainment, and the conclusion of joint contracts for fuel, uniforms and stationery supplies, all of
which improved service and significantly reduced costs.
“Our first focus was on a new network plan which could
support the hugely important tourist sector in Seychelles more effectively with good connections and broader choice for visitors
to the archipelago.”
To optimise the schedule and
enhance connectivity with its partner airlines, the Air
Seychelles’ network was expanded through 19 codeshare destinations
with Etihad Airways, opening up key European markets, and with the
introduction of four flights a week to Abu Dhabi.
The network expansion was made possible by renewed investment in
the fleet. During the year, the airline introduced an Airbus A330-200
and wet-leased an Etihad Airways’ Airbus A320 on the Mauritius
route.
“We are going to continue to build our
capacity with a second A330-200, allowing us to start flights to
Hong Kong to capture the lucrative Asian leisure market in March
2013. We will also be increasing the frequency of flights to Abu
Dhabi, Johannesburg and Mauritius,” Mr Ball said.
A recently
announced codeshare with airberlin will expand the island
carrier’s network throughout Europe.
Network
development was accompanied by investment in product and service
enhancements.
“We have responded to the demand from
our affluent leisure and tourism guests by introducing a new
international inflight product and can now offer a business class
experience to rival any airline. Air Seychelles offers on demand
dining in business class and is the only airline to offer a
lie-flat business class seat flying into Seychelles,” Mr Ball
said.
Established in 1978, Air Seychelles now has more than 200 domestic
flights a week and a strong domestic charter business. The airline
employs 550 people, 25% of whom have worked with the
company for more than 15 years. 40% of the staff have worked at
Air Seychelles for 10 years or more.
“Our
partnership with Etihad Airways has made us a bigger player in the
global aviation scene and we are better able to withstand the
uncertainties and volatility in the global economy. In addition to
our natural organic growth, in 2013 we’re looking to broaden our
network through partnerships. Now we need to maintain our
strategic focus and effort,” Mr Ball said.
Air Seychelles,
Etihad Airways,
Seychelles
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