Seychelles International Airport , or ''Aéroport de la Pointe Larue'' in French, is the
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
of the
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
located on the island of
Mahé near the capital city of
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
. The airport is the home base and the head office of
Air Seychelles
Air Seychelles is the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles. Its head office is located at Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahé and it operates inter-island and international flights and charter flights.
History
E ...
and features several regional and long-haul routes due to its importance as the gateway to a major international leisure destination.
The airport is southeast of the capital and is accessible by the Victoria-Providence Highway. It forms part of the administrative districts of La Pointe Larue (terminal area), Cascade/Providence (in the North), and Anse aux Pins (in the south and military base).
Terminals
![Seychelles International Airport COVID-19](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Seychelles_International_Airport_COVID-19.jpg)
The domestic terminal is a short distance north of the international terminal and offers inter-island flights with a peak of a departure every 10–15 minutes at busy times which corresponds with international arrivals/departures and every 30 minutes at other times.
A cargo terminal is south of the international terminal and handles freight from all international and domestic movements; it is run by
Air Seychelles
Air Seychelles is the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles. Its head office is located at Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahé and it operates inter-island and international flights and charter flights.
History
E ...
.
A base of the
Seychelles Public Defence Force (SPDF) is at the southeastern end of Runway 13 on an island that was joined with Mahé at the construction of the airport.
History
Early years
The opening of the Seychelles International Airport took place on 20 March 1972 by Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
. Wilkenair of
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
had, however, already started a ferry service between
Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
and
Mahé via
Diego Suarez Diego Suarez or ''Diego-Suarez'' may refer to:
* Antsiranana, a city in Madagascar formerly known as Diego-Suarez
* Diego Suarez (navigator) or Diogo Soares, 16th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer
* Diego Suárez (soldier) (1552–1623), Sp ...
in Madagascar and
Astove Island
Astove Atoll is a large atoll, part of the Aldabra Group, lying in the Outer Islands of Seychelles, with a distance of southwest of the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island. Alphonse Fishing Company and Blue Safari Seychelles operate from the at ...
(Seychelles) using a twin engine
Piper Navajo
The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...
the previous year.
It operated to the Seychelles once a week. The first pilot to land at Seychelles airport was Tony Bentley-Buckle, who flew his private plane from Mombasa to Mahe via Moroni in March 1971 even before the airfield was complete.
[A. Bentley-Buckle Volume 2 of The British Navy at War and Peace. Whittles Publishing Ltd, U.K. - 2013] The flying time was 9 hours 35 minutes.
This was followed by
East African Airways
East African Airways Corporation, more commonly known as East African Airways, was an airline jointly run by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. It was set up on 1 January 1946, starting operations the same year. The airline was headquartered in the Sa ...
in November 1971 and
Luxair
Luxair, legally ''Luxair S.A., Société Luxembourgeoise de Navigation Aérienne'', is the flag carrier airline of Luxembourg with its headquarters and hub at Luxembourg Airport. It operates scheduled services to destinations in Europe, North Af ...
in December of the same year. A
BOAC
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...
Super VC10 was the first jet aircraft to land at Seychelles International Airport on 4 July 1971.
At the time of the opening it had a 2987 m runway and a control tower. Ground handling and all other airport operations were carried out by the DCA (Directorate of Civil Aviation).
In 1972, John Faulkner Taylor and Tony Bentley-Buckle founded the first local aircraft company Air Mahé, which operated a
Piper PA-34 Seneca
The Piper PA-34 Seneca is a twin-engined light aircraft, produced in the United States by Piper Aircraft. It has been in non-continuous production since 1971. The Seneca is primarily used for personal and business flying.
Development
The Senec ...
between
Praslin
Praslin () is the second largest island (38.5 km2) of the Inner Seychelles, lying northeast of Mahé in the Somali Sea. Praslin has a population of around 7,533 people and comprises two administrative districts: Baie Sainte Anne and Gra ...
,
Fregate, and Mahé Islands. This aircraft was later replaced by a
Britten-Norman Islander
The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...
. By 1974, over 30 airlines were flying to the Seychelles. Ground handling and all airport operations were being carried out by Aviation Seychelles Company, a company formed in 1973.
![Flughafen Seychellen Boeing 707-330 D-ABUM Lufthansa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Flughafen_Seychellen_Boeing_707-330_D-ABUM_Lufthansa.jpg)
Construction works for the substantial expansion of the airport started in July 1980
Due to the continuous increase in passenger traffic, a terminal building was built that could cater for 400 more arriving and 400 more departing passengers at any time. Parking bays for up to six large aircraft were built and a parking area for five light aircraft.
In 1981, there was a gun battle at Seychelles International Airport, as British national
Mike Hoare
Thomas Michael Hoare (17 March 1919 – 2 February 2020), known as Mad Mike Hoare, was a British mercenary soldier who operated during the Simba rebellion, and attempted to conduct a coup d'état in the Seychelles.
Early life and military car ...
led a team of 43 South African mercenaries masquerading as holidaying rugby players in a coup attempt in what is known as the
Seychelles affair. After their hidden weapons were discovered on arrival a skirmish ensued, with most of the mercenaries later escaping in a hijacked
Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...
jet.
[Seychelles: Life's a breeze near the equator](_blank)
The Telegraph, U.K.
Development since the 2000s
![Seychelles 083](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Seychelles_083.JPG)
The years 2005/2006 brought further development of civil aviation in the Seychelles. The Civil Aviation Authority Act was enacted on 4 April 2006 for the corporatisation of the Directorate of Civil Aviation to Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority. Works started to upgrade and extend the terminal building, which has been further extended to handle at least five medium to large jet aircraft (e.g.,
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
or
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.
Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...
) as well as six smaller jet aircraft (e.g.
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...
or
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus.
The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...
).
Additional parking areas were made available to the north-east of the airport to handle the parking of charter, business, and long stay aircraft (e.g. some European flights arrive in the morning starting at 7 a.m. but do not depart until 10 p.m. onwards). This reduces
jet-lag as any flight that leaves Seychelles at night will get to most Western European cities in the early morning and vice versa from the European cities to the Seychelles; it also provides sufficient rest for operating crews.
The airport has been home to
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
s operated by the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
and possibly the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
for operations over
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
and the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
.
President of Seychelles
This article contains a list of presidents of the Republic of Seychelles.
Presidents (1976–present)
:Notes
Timeline
Latest election
See also
*Seychelles
**Politics of Seychelles
** List of colonial governors of Seychelles
**Vice-Pre ...
James Michel
James Alix Michel, GCSK (born August 16, 1944) is a Seychellois politician and the former President of Seychelles from year 2004 to 2016. He previously served as Vice-President under his predecessor, France-Albert René, from 1996 to 2004.
Mi ...
apparently welcomed
the presence of U.S. drones in Seychelles to combat
Somalian piracy and terrorism, dating back to at least August 2009. At least two
MQ-9 Reaper
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the Unit ...
UAVs have crashed into the Indian Ocean near the airport since December 2011.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Ground transport
There is frequent service to the bus station in Victoria, with taxi ranks outside the terminal available to all locations on Mahé Island. Several tour operators' coach services also link passengers to the ferry terminal at the Old Port (Vieux Port) for inter-island ferry services and to the New Port (Nouveau port) for cruise holidays.
There are plans to link the airport with a
light railway
A light railway is a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more steep gradients and tight curves to reduce civil engineering costs. These lighter standards allow ...
/tram system that will run along the east coast of Mahé island due to the high transportation density of this area. Companies were invited to tender by the government in 2007.
See also
*
Transport in Seychelles
*
List of airports in Seychelles
This is a list of airports in Seychelles, sorted by location.
Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles, is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar. Ot ...
References
External links
SkyVector – Seychelles Int'l*
*
*
*https://www.naval-technology.com/news/news73986.html -deployment of
Lockheed P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.