Turkish Airlines flies to the Seychelles

ÖMÜR GEDİK

The Turkish Airlines’ (THY) first flight to the Seychelles Islands was interesting for me. There were many unknowns which created excitement. 

The THY plane was to land for the first time in a new airport after a new route. I immediately asked the captain of the flight, Ergin Akgül who came to wish us a safe flight during the 7-hour 50 minute-journey, “The first flight, the first landing, how did you prepare for it? Are you excited?” he asked.

He said they were working on this flight for two months with simulators; in fact, they have been flying this route back and forth for two months and testing for two months. 

We flew to Seychelles smoothly and had a very soft landing. I wish you could also experience this because the travel does not feel like it takes almost eight hours. This is partly because there isn’t too much of a time difference with the local time and the destination’s time (The Seychelles are only one hour ahead of Turkey); the exhaustion of the flight is not noticeable at all.   

You board the plane in the evening and sleep onboard to start the day in a tropical island with a fantastic climate. 

The THY will fly this route to and from the destination three times a week. It will connect to 88 international destinations. Let me remind you that there is no visa requirement to The Seychelles. The price of a return ticket for the Istanbul – The Seychelles route, for the introductory period, is $599. 

A dance group was waiting for us, and then THY Marketing and Sales Deputy General Manager Ahmet Olmuştur and The Seychelles Culture and Tourism Minister Alain St Ange held a press conference. 

The Seychelles is THY’s 117th country it is flying to. Thus, as an airline which flies to the most destinations in the world, it has added a new route to its existing ones. 

Well, there are more good news. THY Press Adviser Yahya Üstün said that THY was commencing direct flights to Cuba on Dec. 12. I would recommend you to reserve your seats now. 

The doyenne of aviation journalism, Uğur Cebeci was also in THY’s Seychelles first flight group. When you fly with him, you obtain loads of information on planes and flights. I learned that some people have become addicted to THY because they admire the food served. I learned that THY is the most preferred airline for transit flights among foreign passengers. I learned that there were many foreign passengers who insist on THY only because of the prize-winning CIP lounge at Istanbul’s international terminal. 

When cabinet ministers greeted us after THY’s first flight to Seychelles and when we were given a top level reception, there were already signs of THY’s international reputation and brand value. We were all proud of our national carrier. 

I also found the answer to the question of all animal-lovers, whether the remaining food from flights could be donated to animal shelters. I was told the food which is shocked and loaded to planes were for one usage only and they could not be used later for animals.  

The first thing that comes to mind in a tropical island is marriage and honeymoon. These islands are really generating love. The prices in the Four Seasons are expensive but there are other places with reasonable prices in the islands. I would prefer Bird Island, for instance, known for its variety of birds. 

There are small islands where you can only reach your rooms by bicycle. There are many options in Seychelles for newlyweds and honeymooners…