Air Seychelles and Air Madagascar seal codeshare agreement

Air Seychelles and Air Madagascar held a symbolic signing ceremony on Wednesday, 4 February to seal a codeshare agreement between the two airlines.

The event was held at the Air Seychelles VIP Lounge with Manoj Papa, Air Seychelles’ Chief Executive officer, and Hery Rambeloson, Air Madagascar’s Commercial Passenger Director, who represented Chief Executive Officer Haja Raelison.

Under the deal, Air Madagascar will place its MD flight code on Air Seychelles’ twice-weekly services between Antananarivo and Mahé and, subject to government approvals, on flights from Mahé to Abu Dhabi and Mumbai.

Mr Papa said: “Air Seychelles’ new flights to Madagascar have significantly bolstered the trade and tourism ties between our sister islands, and our objective is to continue developing them further.

“Travellers from Madagascar are now a short journey away from Seychelles, which offers onward connections to attractive destinations across Air Seychelles’ expanding international network.

“Forging such partnerships is at the heart of our business model and we are thrilled to be working closely with Air Madagascar to improve air connectivity in the Indian Ocean for the benefit of both regions.

“Over the coming months we look forward to deepening our collaboration even further to offer our combined passengers more travel benefits.” 

Air Seychelles operates a two-class Airbus A320 on the Mahé-Antananarivo route, with 16 seats in business class and 120 seats in economy class, offering more than seven tonnes of weekly belly hold cargo capacity. 

The two airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding in August 2014, charting a path for future commercial cooperation, including harmonisation of flight schedules, cooperation to enhance cargo traffic between Antananarivo, Mahé and beyond. Collaboration on frequent flyer programmes, reciprocal staff travel and reciprocal lounge access is under discussion.

Haja Raelison, Air Madagascar’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to see this exciting codeshare agreement up and running so soon after the launch of direct flights to Madagascar. 

“The Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East are important markets for Air Madagascar and there is great demand amongst our customers to travel beyond the Seychelles to these regions, which this codeshare agreement allows.

“We look forward to developing our partnership with an even greater number of business and leisure guests travelling between Madagascar and Seychelles,” Mr Raelison said.

Guests on Air Seychelles enjoy additional connection opportunities on Air Madagascar services to 11 cities in Madagascar and key regional destinations, including Comoros, Johannesburg, Mauritius, Mayotte and Reunion.