Islands Development Company(IDC), a state owned entity responsible for the economic development of the Seychelles outer islands archipelago is advancing plans to improve domestic air connectivity with addition of ATR42-600 aircraft according to smartaviation
IDC’s aviation base is located at Pointe Larue, about 1 km south of the Seychelles International Airport. According to their website, the Aviation Department is responsible for IDC’s fleet of five aircraft which include two Beechcraft B-1900, a Caravan, a Dornier SD-228 and a Y-12. They serve an air charter service across the archipelago to the islands of Alphonse, Assomption, Astove, Coetivy, Desroches, Farquhar, Marie-Louise, Platte, Poivre and Remire
ATR announced the development of a short take-off and landing (STOL) version of the ATR 42-600 in 2019. This STOL version will be capable of flying from 800m paved runways as opposed to the 1,050m lower limit for the standard ATR 42-600 which will make it suitable for expansion of IDC’s air operation to some of the shorter island runways
According to smart aviation, IDC general manager of aviation, Marcus Labrosse says the aim is to add the ATR 42s in three to four years once the market has grown.
“There are possibilities that we might lease the aircraft first and purchase later, but the leasing companies have not yet been decided”
