I recently (August/September) flew Air Seychelles, round trip from Johannesburg to Mahe. Very nice airline.
They have 3 767s and 4 commuter aircraft, Twin Otters and Shorts, for island-hopping. But the 767s were maintained by the now defunct XL Airways of the UK and the maintenance records are locked up. As a result, the B767-200, nicely named La Belle Creole, that I flew on is now grounded for tech. Also, when I was at the Jo-Burg airport there was an all white B-767 with "S7" registration, meaning Seychelles. It was intended to bring the 767 to four aircraft but it too was maintained by XL. I haven't seen this posted anywhere. Anyone know how or when this sorry state of affairs could be resolved?
XL do not do the maintenace on Air Seychelles 767s....the C checks are done by South African Technical and KLM, Heavy checks by South African Technical, hence why you possibly seen them at Jo-Burg.. Hope this helps
Thanks, Goose, that adds some good insight and a bit more mystery. The media (The Seychelles Weekly, an opposition party newspaper and the International Herald Tribune said that the two planes' records are "locked up" in XL offices in London.
The Air Seychelles website says this:
Victoria , 15th September 2008 – Air Seychelles has announced that it has suspended the use of one of its regional B767’s, La Belle Creole as it was on sub-lease from XL Airways.XL Airways is now under administration and the administrators have announced that all existing contracts between XL and third parties are suspended. As until the legalities are cleared Air Seychelles is not in a position to operate this aircraft.Another B767-200 named Amirantes has been delivered from the leasing company, ILFC to Air Seychelles and is being prepared for entry into service.However, a new maintenance provider is being sought as XL no longer provides maintenance support.In the meantime twice weekly services to and from Johannesburg and one weekly service to Singapore have been rescheduled on alternative days of the week and will be operated by the airline’s larger B767-3300 aircraft.Services to other destinations have not been affected.Air Seychelles regrets the inconvenience this is causing its esteemed customers and is making sure that this situation is short-lived.
We'll see what happens next.