Air Seychelles has announced details of its new direct flights from Mahé to Abu Dhabi.

The news follows an announcement last week Etihad Airways, the UAE flag-carrier, would form a strategic partnership by taking a 40 per cent stake in the airline.

Complementing Etihad Airways’ existing four weekly services from Abu Dhabi to Mahé, March 12th will see Air Seychelles inaugurate two weekly return services on the route.

Effectively, the new schedule will offer six direct services per week between Abu Dhabi and Mahé, increasing to seven per week from June 2012.

These Air Seychelles flights will operate on a Boeing 767-300ER series aircraft, in a two-class configuration, offering a total of 844 seats each week.

The new flights are on sale from today.

A key benefit to travellers of the new Air Seychelles non-stop Mahé-Abu Dhabi service is convenient flight arrival and departure times and connectivity from Mahé with Etihad Airways’ codeshare flights through Abu Dhabi to the Far East, Australia, the Indian Subcontinent and the Gulf region.

Etihad Airways guests, particularly from key feeder markets of Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom, will also benefit from the increased connectivity options in travel to Mahé and onward destinations across the Air Seychelles network, such as Mauritius and Johannesburg.

Cramer Ball, the newly appointed Air Seychelles chief executive, said: “The Seychelles have already proven to be a hugely popular holiday destination amongst Etihad Airways guests. With these additional two Air Seychelles weekly flights, we look forward to successfully serving the route, tourism and business at each end and beyond.”

Etihad Airways – considered the World’s Leading Airline by the World Travel Awards commenced services itself to the Seychelles on November 2nd, 2011.