DWINDLING traffic and profits on its UK route have forced Air Seychelles to abandon its non-stop services to London Heathrow in favour of flights that will route via Frankfurt and Zürich instead from the end of this month.

Marketing and sales manager, Christian Perchat, says flights routing from Heathrow via Frankfurt start on Sunday, March 29 and flights routing via Zürich begin Friday, April 4. Perchat says the UK market has been hit hard by the economic slowdown. UK traffic to the Seychelles dropped from 19 900 passengers in 2007 to 15 000 in 2008 and the trend is continuing this year.

In contrast, the German market picked up by 10% last year to 21 000 passengers, making it the Seychelles’ third most important source market after France (32 000 annual arrivals) and Italy (24 000 annual arrivals). He says the carrier has tried to minimise losses on its other European routes by cutting its schedule from six flights to five to Paris (operated on a codeshare basis with Air France) and from three flights to two to Milan. Of visitors to the Seychelles, 80% are from Europe. Traffic is divided as follows: 85% leisure and 15% business. Its international routes include Frankfurt, London, Paris, Milan, Moscow, Rome and Zürich, while its regional network includes Johannesburg, Mauritius and Singapore.