Seychelles International Airport

Seychelles International Airport, on the southeastern shore of Mahé Island, is the sole international gateway to the 115-island Seychelles archipelago and the commercial lifeline of a luxury-tourism economy that handles roughly 1.6–1.8M passenger movements annually across a resident population of just 120,000 — one of the highest per-capita international airport throughputs in the world. The 2,987 m (9,800 ft) concrete runway, extended and resurfaced under a 2010s upgrade programme, accepts full-payload Airbus A330, Boeing 777, and 787 widebody operations, which is the infrastructure qualifier for SEZ's place inside the 534 largest. About 11 airlines operate 20 routes to 16 destinations (2026). Emirates and Qatar Airways provide the heaviest widebody capacity with multiple daily flights from Dubai and Doha, Ethiopian anchors the African schedule via Addis Ababa, and Air France, Edelweiss, Austrian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, British Airways (seasonal), and Air Seychelles (the flag carrier) round out the European and regional network. Short-haul service links Mahé to Praslin on the main domestic route operated by Air Seychelles and small-island specialists. The network is overwhelmingly inbound-leisure: high-end resort tourism accounts for roughly 25% of national GDP. The terminal was expanded with a new departures hall and reconfigured international arrivals in 2019. SEZ sits on reclaimed land at 10 m (33 ft) above sea level and — alongside its commercial role — hosts the Seychelles Air Force detachment and serves as a monitored anti-piracy aviation waypoint for the western Indian Ocean, a role that gained prominence after the 2008–2012 Somali piracy surge. Its strategic position between Africa, South Asia, and the Gulf has made it a regular mid-ocean diversion and refuelling alternate.