Seychelles International Airport: A Step Back in History

[Chalets d' Anse Forbans]

Seychelles International Airport- A step back in history
The Seychelles International Airport officially opened on the 20th March 1972 with the official ceremony being carried out by her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II. However, interesting to note well before this on the 17th June 1939 a flying boat called GUBA 11 has flown to the Seychelles under its own steam.

The Seychelles International Airport continued to grow and more aircraft's landed on the island of Mahe to discover the Seychelles. On the 4th July 1970 saw the landing of the first jet aircraft the BOAC SUPER VC10. The gates where now open for tourism in the Seychelles.

A step back into the history: The Seychelles Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA) was created in 1969 with a Director and three other employees. In 1971 the operations where conducted by Wilkenair, the air traffic control was carried out from a private house at Anse de Genet, the Fire Service was based in Victoria and only one Land Rover Fire vehicle was dispatched to the airport to attend to the flights while the meteorological station was situated at the Long Pier Road, at the old Port. The Seychelles International Airport has a runway 2987m long.

The island of Praslin airstrip, which is the second largest island in the Seychelles archipelago, became operational in 1972 linking the outer island to the mainland. In 1988 a project was undertaken to build up an aerodrome for Praslin. A Control Tower, Fire Station and Terminal Building was constructed and the runway was paved and extended to 1250m by 23m.

In 2001 the runway was further extended and the current terminal building was constructed.The

The Seychelles International airport is located on the main island of Mahé and is only 10 km away from the capital Victoria. Positioned beneath the overlooking green mountains and aligned along the coastline, the Seychelles International airport consists of an International and Domestic terminal.

The Seychelles International Airport has been through expansion plans both in the 1980s and in 2005/2006 and can now accomodate 800 passengers at one time.

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