Having been active in Seychelles for the last ten years, the Russian national airline, Aeroflot, has taken the decision to suspend its local operation.

Aeroflot Area Manager for Seychelles and Mauritius, Mr Leonid Shudrak, said that a regular Aeroflot service to Seychelles began in 1993, but that the present number of Russian visitors to Seychelles was insufficient to justify such a service.

The regular service was withdrawn in 2001 when Russian and global tourist figures contracted, which led to the airline's introduction of a charter service to Seychelles.

The last Aeroflot charter flight to Seychelles was in early 2003, since which time Russian visitors have either transited in one of the major European hubs or travelled on a charter flight provided by a private tour company.

Mr Shudrak explained that, while the major European markets, such as France, Italy, the UK and Germany, send roughly 20,000 tourists to Seychelles every year, only around 3,000 Russians make the trip.

Equating to little over 50 visitors per week, Mr Shudrak said that this figure was too low to justify the cost of operating the type of large aircraft needed for the route.

However, with many Russian tourists in Seychelles making repeat visits and with commercial charter flights bringing in almost as many visitors as the regular Aeroflot service previously supplied, Russian visitor figures look set to soon equal the 1999 peak.

In 2002 eleven chartered flights made the journey from Moscow to Seychelles, a figure which will be matched this year and which Mr Shudrak expects to be surpassed in 2004.

Though the local office is closing in December, Mr Shudrak stressed that standing agreements between Aeroflot and Air Seychelles will remain in force and will fall under the Aeroflot manager in Dubai.

The Dubai manager has already met with Air Seychelles Commercial Director, Mr Maxence Du Bellay, to discuss the possibility of the Russian airline block booking seats on the Air Seychelles Dubai service.

According to Mr Shudrak, to ensure the feasibility of such an operation the Aeroflot Moscow headquarters will be lobbied by their regional manager to provide a suitable connecting flight.

Mr Shudrak also pointed to the fact that Aeroflot still holds assets in a rupee account in Seychelles and that difficulties in converting this money, which he described as not a huge amount, to hard currency had also contributed to the airline's decision to suspend the service.

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