Monday, February 27, 2012

The Seychelles Column - By Christopher Gill

Air Seychelles Needs Real Competition

The famous "Air Seychelles" brand - gone forever

The recent surprise sell out of Government of Seychelles interest in the national air carrier Air Seychelles, has exposed the very deep rifts that exist in the Air Seychelles failed business model.

United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi) Takes 40% Interest and Control 

Abu Dhabi - Air Seychelles new headquarters

Most are knowledgeable of the 40% interest the UAE Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad has taken in Air Seychelles. Many have called this a national shame for Seychelles. It is a shame. Etihad Managing Director has said that after the acquisition: “Etihad is not considering any other acquisition because its plate is now full with the purchase of Air Berlin and Air Seychelles”.

Etihad - Savior of Air Seychelles or the beginning of the end for Air Seychelles?

Indeed the Etihad plate is full. It has also negotiated full control of Air Seychelles, in spite of the ex-national air carrier having only One (1) single Boeing 767-300 that can do international flights. Etihad has placed its own CEO and Chairman at the helm of Air Seychelles and they even control the domestic segment of the Air Seychelles company. Here is where our problems start and I will propose solutions.

Domestic Fare Hikes Outrageous!

Air Seychelles Domestic Service - plagued by bad management,poor customer service & high ticket fares

Last week Air Seychelles hiked air fares between Mahe and Praslin from SCR 512 (US$ 36) round trip to SCR 1,600 (US$ 112) round trip. The lower rate was a local residential rate, while tourists were already paying the higher rate in hard currency. Now the highway robbery rate applies to residents purchasing tickets under some sort of code. This new rate is not only outrageous, it is ridiculous. In Europe one can purchase a ticket from Heathrow to Spain for GBP 20 (UK Pound Sterling).  Most of these domestic flights are empty or operate under 50% capacity.

Even Minister of Transport Joel Morgan had no clue the price hike was on the way. Poor Minister Morgan, kept in the dark by his own Frankenstein creation.

Minister Morgan - In the dark and out of his depth as usual

In the past Air Seychelles advertised over Twenty (20) flights to Praslin per day. Today, we are lucky if Air Seychelles runs Four (4) flights per day to Praslin. It is doing close to what Cat Cocos does. But the boat carries over 500 people on two trips. Air Seychelles can carry 80 passengers on Four(4) trips. Do the numbers and you will know the loss of market share for Air Seychelles over the years.

The fast and sleek "Cat Cocos" Catamaran Ferry - Excellent, affordable service

Service Is Just Plain Bad

The other common gripe with Air Seychelles domestic for years now, has been that service is just plain bad. It sucks. It is a bad experience. Delays on Air Seychelles are common. Flight cancellations are a regular event. The front desk check-in clerks treat you like you are baggage yourself and rude is a polite pronoun for many of them.


In spite of being advised by management to be polite with travelers, the system they are tasked to run, is patently flawed and they too being human, run out of patience when faced with reoccurring failure of Air Seychelles ability to deliver good service at a fair price.

Cat Cocos Beating The Plane To The Ground

The other inter-island option for travelers is Cat Cocos. They run a more efficient check in service than Air Seychelles domestic. They are even more professional and handle your booking much quicker. On the route, you are offered a choice of seating classes, food, beverages, and even in route DVD and CD entertainment. Even better then Air Seychelles, the seats are clean and laundered regularly. Leatherette seats are available in Lazio class and they do recline. When one takes the delays of inter island Air Seychelles into account, you get to Praslin on Cat Cocos in about the same time as taking Air Seychelles, but it is much cheaper. An economy seat runs for SCR 169 (US$ 12). A Lazio Business seat with food and drinks, cold towel, a smiling hostess and reclining seat costs just SCR 285 or (US$ 20).  If you take ten (10) trips, you get one free.  On Air Seychelles, you can take 1,000 trips, you will not even get a coke for free, but you will be guaranteed one thing: before the 1,000 trip, the ticket price will go up and so will your blood pressure.

Competition Will Clean Up This Mess

A plethora of bad reviews has plagued Air Seychelles for years now. We complain to management, they do nothing. Today, even management does not know what to do.

Rajiv Bissessur (Mauritian) and David Savy - Air Seychelles former incompetent management team

Air Seychelles Domestic is now run out of Abu Dhabi. It is a reality and it is a pure shame. To clean up this mess which is having a detrimental impact on Praslin and La Digue islands as possible destinations for guests, the time has come for the private sector of Praslin, La Digue, Mahe, Bird Island, Denis Island and other SEYCHELLOIS entrepreneurs to come together and create another airline company to make inter island flight feasible and functional with realistic pricing and rekindle the “Seychellois Spirit” service. This is the only solution at this point to rectify a non-responsive Air Seychelles, to the problems we have been facing with its operations for years now. The recent callous price hike is simply the straw that broke the camel's back.

Make Public Share Offers Raise Capital For new Planes

To push this along, business leaders need to group and act. Make a public offer to raise capital to buy new planes and deliver excellent inter island service from Mahe onwards. The company should be 100% Seychellois owned and we can leave Air Seychelles in the hands of James Michel, Sheikh Khalifa, Joel Morgan, David Savy and of course Etihad. We can even call it “Seychelles Airways”, and put an end to this madness that is hurting our tourism industry and the entire inter-island community, which even includes misguided Communists as you all know.


After Seychelles Airways is off the ground, let us go find the right plane and expand with direct flights to our core market which is Europe, and let us take back our tourism industry with a renewed “Seychellois Spirit”.

As President Obama said 4 years ago:

"We can do it, and yes we can!"

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois!

248 comments:

«Oldest   ‹Older   201 – 248 of 248
Anonymous said...

The new ministers move into their new offices next week, after swearing-in.

In the meantime, it is painful to see sacked ministers going through torment while they continue as minister. I had the feeling that Shamlaye was about to cry during his speech on International Women's Day yesterday. It was certainly a badly delivered speech, although we know he can do better than that.

Signs of ministerial incompetence to come were seen yesterday. Christian Lionnet is already acting as minister, since Michel did not replace Dugasse when he legged it before the elections. Shamlaye and Athanasius must wish they had followed suit and left with some dignity.

Lionnet read a speech at the stone-laying ceremony at Les Mamelles housing estate. There are many ten year olds who can read English better than Christian Lionnet. Ministers are supposed to provide leadership (more important than being a good engineer). But who is going to pay attention to someone like Christian Lionnet and what he preaches ? The boy lacks the bare essentials for a cabinet minister role. We saw it clearly on SBC last night. You do wonder what exactly he has done that has impressed James Michel. It is as if Lionnet has been put on a 30-year ministerial apprenticeship. Just like Michel himself and see where that got us. He is just the tip of the ice berg, when we look at the names announced this week.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

It is true that Etihad has more maketing and destination but those destinations are done according to Etihad own strategy which is not necessarily to bring more tourists to Seychelles.

Anonymous said...

After taking a full year for a cabinet reshuffle and ending up botching it, James Michel feels he is entitled to an extended weekend in Mauritius. While there he should find time to find out where all our tourists have gone to. He will find out that for every tourist that his pathetic government attracts to Seychelles, Mauritius gets five.

Mauritius has good reasons to invite Michel to the independence celebrations. Apart from the fact that Michel is not the only one getting an invite and it is polite to invite close neighbours, Mauritians can smugly rejoice that while they attract tourists we attract Somali pirates for our overcrowded jails. We are the mugs of the Indian Ocean and the biggest mug is among them for their 40th independence anniversary celebrations. The other reason for the Mauritians to be smug and Michel is a living proof of that, is that Mauritians have not endured a single coup d'etat since independence and this has allowed them to go from strength to strength.

Mauritius has a lot to be feel smug about and it is entitled to score points over us by inviting Michel to the party. Hats off to them.

Anonymous said...

St. Ange worked hard, so I do not fault Michel for appointing the bugger. Payet and Laporte are educated, so at least they have the qualification. As for the the appointment of Edith Alexander who studied in China, I reserve my comments as I do not know her except that she is also inexperienced.

But for christ's sake, why did Michel appoint Mitcy Larue and Christian Lionnet? Larue is an idiot and will be such an embarrassment to our health portfolio. Can you imagine her making a speech at WHO, or some other health forum in front of medical professionals. Watch the exodus at Mont Fleuri and watch our only competent doctors emigrate by the bunch.

As for Lionnet, his mother Marlene slept with Albert Rene many years ago so this is the reward. Maybe Christian is the son of Albert. But really, Lionnet is too young, too inexperience and not qualified to be a Minister.

Our country is doomed under James Michel.

Anonymous said...

The problem with Alain St Ange is not that he is not qualified for the job. He is arguably more qualified than the other 5 new ministerial appointments.

The problem with Alain St Ange is the DARK message that his appointment and his acceptance sends.

We all know that Michel did not appoint him for his competence and hard work. Michel appointed him for political reasons because St Ange is a traitor who has left the opposition and joined the ruling party as an opportunist. It fits with the general strategy to undermine the opposition and to encourage more defections.

The problem for Alain St Ange is that he spent years fighting for democratic principles. By joining Parti Lepep as a minister he has given up on those because the country is still largely a one-party state. The problem for Alain St Ange is that it does not matter to him whether the country is undemocratic and others are still fighting for the return of democracy AS LONG AS HE IS A MINISTER.

The dark message that Alain St Ange sends is that morals and principles do not matter, if offered a ministerial position. It is corrupting the nation's moral fabric. Alain St Ange is just as comfortable promoting Parti Lepep policies as he was criticising those policies. That diminishes him as a man and sets a bad example for the rest of the country.

As a minister in a Parti Lepep government he will be half the man that he was before hitching his wagon with James Michel and Parti Lepep. That that does not worry him in the least worries those that care about the moral fabric of this country.

It is not as if he has the policies to turn the wrecked tourism industry around. The country has nothing to gain by Alain St Ange being appointed Minister for Tourism and Culture. But the fight for demoracy in Seychelles has got a setback, as Alain St Ange works to boost Parti Lepep's electoral chances and revitalises Parti Lepep's determination to stop the democratisation of Seychelles. That too will militate against the development of the tourism industry. Is it any wonder that democratic Mauritius (no coup d'etats ever and one-party rule) has far out-stripped Seychelles in the development of tourism ?

Anonymous said...

Based on what we saw on SBC last night, can you see Lionnet deliver a speech at an international conference held here or abroad ?

Anonymous said...

Both Lionnet and Meriton at Les Mammelles yesterday. Let's hope it is not an indication of things to come -- 2 or 3 ministers at an event when 1 will do now that Michel has put them on light duties.

Anonymous said...

My Dear Friend, I say Mitcy Larue is unqulified to be minister of health,it is true how this old crow be able to deliver a speach at the International level.Veronique who is going to run the show. Mitcy go count the delivery of goods that are delivered each day at the hospital.
Make sure that the vegetables delivered are weighed properly and ensure that we tax payers do not pay fradulent invoices.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Reply to Cheers-

The marketing network distribution argument that is used to defend the Etihad buy out of Air Seychelles is a "Red Herring". This is why:

1. Europeans , particularly our main market,France, will not want to hub in Abu Dhabi. We lose hundreds if not a thousand bookings a week as a destination, because we do not have a direct flight out of Charles De Gaulle and Heathrow.

2. Even if Etihad has a marketing distribution network, which it does, it is geared to selling airline seats, not to promoting any particular destination.

3. Seychelles given the nature of the product,ie multiple island hopping, needs solid partners promoting actively, our product.

Solid does not mean having just money, it means actively engaging the public into buying into a Seychelles holiday. This Etihad does not do and cannot do with all the money in the world, if it runs a A320 out of Charles De Gaulle, then bottle necks Seychelles with a A319, and sends Air Seychelles to Etihad base four times a week.

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

Christopher Gill
Leader
Seychelles Freedom Party

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

No different from North Korea dear leaders.They are the demi-gods who we need to praise,adore,worship.It is the megalomany of all dictators.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

It shows that PP regime does m^not belive an inch in its people that even a MC he must import a foreigner from Austrialia.I am sure if he thought it was necessary he could have also find a Seychellois nationa in Australia as good or even better than this AUSSIE who was paid to sing the priases of St Ange and Michel.Those monkeys are anti-Seychellois.Time to get rid of them!

Jeanne D'Arc

Pissedoff said...

Just the same way that you and Isaaq praise Gill...wait! But you are Gill!

Anonymous said...

n

Anonymous said...

St Ange can try to polish and paint brush the butcher image,but the thing is putting lipstick on a pig's lips does not change the pig ,he stays a pig.A self-image is ge a self-generated statement that floats around in his head.The butcher needs to do assertiveness training it will help his ego.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

correction.self-image is to get

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