New airport for Seychelles to meet growing tourist demand

New Seychelles International airport

Opened in 1972 by Queen Elizabeth II, the existing Seychelles International airport is now becoming too small to handle the increasing amount of traffic to the islands which are mostly generated by tourism. Visitor arrival to the Seychelles, a 115-island archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, reached almost 280,000 in 2015.

Says David Germain, director, Africa and Americas Seychelles Tourism Board, “The fact that Seychelles is to build a new airport is a very positive move for the archipelago, as aviation plays a central role in supporting tourism to Seychelles.” He adds that the new airport will provide a significant improvement in the handling of passengers to and from the country and for passengers travelling to the other islands.

To be situated to the north of the existing airport, the new international airport is expected to be complete in 2019 or 2020 at an estimated cost of $150 million.

While the design of the new airport and its facilities is still at an early stage, Minister Morgan said: “The new airport will have to be appealing, capture the essence of Seychelles and its culture, be efficient, represent and have in place state-of-the-art technology and, most importantly, be environmentally friendly and incorporate renewable energy systems.”

The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) has been carrying out improvements on the existing airport infrastructure, for both international arrivals and departures, as well the domestic terminals.

The new international airport is aimed at going a step further in ensuring that Seychelles remains competitive in the global travel market.