Air India and Air Seychelles have signed a codeshare agreement to streamline travel between India and the Indian Ocean island.

Under the new agreement, signed October 4 in Delhi, Air India will place its ‘AI’ code on Air Seychelles regional services between Mumbai and the Seychelles and on to Johannesburg. Air Seychelles will place its ‘HM’ code on Air India domestic flights to eight cities: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Kochi, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Trivandrum. HM will also be placed on Air India’s service between Mumbai and Bangkok.

#FlyAI: Today #codeshare agreement is signed by Mr. P S Kharola, CMD #AirIndia and Mr. Remco Althuis, CEO of #AirSeychelles at Air India Hqrs #Delhi, India, in the presence of senior airline management team. pic.twitter.com/umbL78q31D

— Air India (@airindiain) October 4, 2018

PS Kharola, Chairman and MD of Air India, said: “India has a huge latent market for leisure travel owing to the burgeoning middle class and rising disposable incomes.”

Remco Althuis, CEO of Air Seychelles, said: “Apart from [the flights] providing services to the beautiful islands of the Seychelles, guests travelling from India can also enjoy seamless connections in less than three hours over the Seychelles to Johannesburg.” He added that, from December 10, Air Seychelles would be providing 544 additional seats a week between Seychelles and Johannesburg, offering holidaymakers and business travellers from India more choice.