Civil Aviation Minister inspects progress of new domestic passenger terminal at Seychelles International Airport

The Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Mr. Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, has expressed satisfaction with the progress of works at the new domestic passenger terminal building.

Minister Loustau-Lalanne visited the Seychelles International Airport on Friday, June 30, to have an appreciation of the current state of the construction, which started in January 2015.

“I am happy with the progress done, and I look forward to see the project being completed without any further delays,” he said after the visit.

Minister Loustau-Lalanne toured the newly-built structure, which is to support several airport operations, a restaurant, a spa, and a Commercial Important Persons (CIP) lounge, which will serve travelers going through the passenger terminal.

He was accompanied by officials of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority and the construction company.

The project, which is being undertaken by Allied Builders (Seychelles) Limited, is being done in three phases. This is to ensure that airport operations are not disrupted while the development and modernization of its structures and facilities are ongoing.

The General Manager for airport management, Mr. Patrick Hoareau, informed the touring party that phase 1 is set to be completed by mid-August 2017.

Mr. Hoareau said: “65% of the first phase of the project has now been completed, most operating facilities will be functional by the end of phase one, in August. This means we will have the departure lounge area, lift, ground floor public toilet facilities, offices on 1st floor and check-in area, partial area of the concourse, and possibly the food and beverages outlet operational.”

Phase 2 and remaining part of Phase 3 are scheduled to start in September 2017. This will see the domestic ground operations moved to the newly built facility, while the new departure lounge has been separated to cater for both the arrival and departure operations, as the existing building will be demolished to construct a new arrival lounge. The project is expected to be completed in its entirety in July 2018.

When talking about the concept of the structure, Mr. Hoareau said the terminal will be a modern one with sustainable aspects and designs.

“It will be a more modern centralized commercial passenger terminal with underground water harvesting tank facilities with capacities of over 3600 liters in total. This is expected to cut down on SCAA’s operational cost, especially when it comes to utilities, which is expected to go down by 50 percent,” he added.

While at the airport, Minister Loustau-Lalanne also took the opportunity to visit the newly-extended arrival terminal building.