Seychellen B767-300ER

Airframe Info:
Operator - Seychelles Airways - Seychellen (2012 Onwards)
Aircraft - Boeing B767-3E1(ER) (S7-LMI)
History:
- Delivered to Seychelles Airways 31/08/1999

2012

At the turn of the new decade things started to change, thick and fast for Seychellen, then Seychelles Airways at the time. The 2008 financial crisis wreaked havoc on Seychelles Airways, a whole load of routes were axed due to low passenger numbers, all but 1 plane in the main fleet was left flying while the inter-island hoppers were able to operate with ease. To save cash the airline withdrew their fleet of 737-700s and 1 767-200, the government would also inject cash into the airline to keep them afloat. In 2009 the airline would reactivate two of its 5 remaining 767s to serve, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Reunion and Mauritius. The airline would attempt to return to Dubai but the slow recovery of the Carrier hindered them in doing so and thus the route is now dominated by Khalifa Airways. In 2012 the airline would make a significant change in its history, on order of the government the airline was to rebrand to Seychellen Airways (marketed as Seychellen). During the rebrand from Seychelles Airways to Seychellen the airline would modernise its "Flag Tail" design dropping the flag coloured cheatline and angled flag tail introduced in 1996. The new livery would have an enlarged flag stretching from the tail onto the fuselage and the blue continuing down and forward to produce a belly. Also the same year a 15% stake in the airline would be purchased by British Flag Carrier Ambassador Airways. In 2013 the 767-300ERs with the exception of one (mentioned in a previous post) would be refurbished and equipped with a tri-class layout of Coral Elite (Business Class with lie-flat seats in 1 - 2 - 1 layout), Coral Deluxe (Premium Economy with 2 - 2 - 2 layout) and Coral Excel (Standard Economy with 2 - 3 - 2 layout) the would also be fitted with seat-back IFE and wifi. Currently the 767 fleet, which as of 2020, consists of 2 aircraft is facing retirement and is to be replaced by the Airbus A330-800neo after the introduction of the A320 and A321neo which replaced the 767 on African services.