(Seychelles News Agency) - Air Seychelles will operate additional flights between Seychelles and Tel Aviv, the second largest city in Israel, for the upcoming sin April due to growing demand, the airline said on Monday.

Besides the normal twice-weekly commercial flights, additional flights have been added to meet the heavy demand along with charters from Tel Aviv to Mauritius and Maldives.

A delegation from Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, recently participated in the International Mediterranean Tourism Market in Tel Aviv.

The acting chief executive of Air Seychelles, Sandy Benoiton, said, “It’s a great opportunity for us to represent Seychelles in the Israeli marketplace. Israelis now have more destinations to choose from than ever before, and solidifying new contracts and meeting with existing partners reaps benefits for a whole year.

He added that Air Seychelles has firmly become the carrier of choice to the Indian Ocean islands for Israelis and that Air Seychelles' “intention is to maintain our market share on the route despite growing competition from other carriers.”

The national carrier of Seychelles will operate 26 flights in April between Seychelles and Tel Aviv carrying over 2000 Israeli visitors to the island.

Meanwhile, another Air Seychelles delegation participated in the Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) and South Asia’s Travel & Tourism Exchange (SATTE) in India earlier this month.

The OTM is the largest and most international gathering of travel trade buyers and professionals in India and across Asia while SATTE is recognised as Asia’s leading travel and tourism exhibition.

Both travel fairs in India garnered the attention of more than 50 countries, 1,500 trade visitors and over 1,000 exhibitors which provided Air Seychelles the platform to promote its services, products, and best travel options to paradise.

“India remains a pillar of our regional network, and we are constantly finding ways to stimulate demand on the route. We look forward to increasing flights throughout 2023 as pre-Covid levels return to normal,” said Charles Johnson, the chief commercial officer of Air Seychelles.

Air Seychelles was represented at the OTM and SATTE by sales manager Eliza Moise and representatives from its general sales agent based in India, Bird Travels Private Limited.