Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Seychelles International Airport (FSIA) is the sole international gateway to the Seychelles, sited on reclaimed land on the eastern coast of Mahé Island a short distance southeast of the capital, Victoria. It is the home base and head office of Air Seychelles, and for a simulator pilot it offers a classic tropical island approach over the Indian Ocean to a single long hard-surface runway.
Seychelles International Airport, known by its ICAO code FSIA and IATA code SEZ, sits on Mahé Island in the Pointe Larue area, southeast of Victoria, the Seychelles capital. It is operated by the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority and serves as the country's only international airport, as well as the home base and head office of the national carrier, Air Seychelles. For a sim pilot the field is notable for its long single runway built out into the Indian Ocean on reclaimed land, its lack of an ILS, and its role as the hub linking the archipelago's outer islands to the wider world.
The airport lies on the eastern coast of Mahé Island, in the Pointe Larue district, roughly 11 kilometres southeast of Victoria. The field was constructed on reclaimed land, with a small island at the southeastern end of the runway that was joined to Mahé during the original construction works and now hosts a Seychelles Public Defence Force base.
FSIA has a single physical runway, aligned 13/31, with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 13 is listed at 8733 feet and runway 31 at 8736 feet in length. There is no ILS approach available. Field elevation is 10 feet.
Approach control operates on 119.7 MHz and the tower frequency is 118.3 MHz. No ILS or other precision instrument approach aids are noted for the airfield.
The airport occupies reclaimed land on the eastern shoreline of Mahé, with the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean immediately adjacent and the town of Victoria a short distance to the northwest, offering a useful general reference for pilots approaching the island.
Seychelles International Airport opened on 20 March 1972, though the first aircraft to use the still-uncompleted field was a private flight by Tony Bentley-Buckle from Mombasa via Moroni in March 1971, a flight of 9 hours 35 minutes. East African Airways followed in November 1971 and Luxair in December of that year, while a BOAC Super VC10 became the first jet aircraft to land at the airport on 4 July 1971. A substantial expansion began in July 1980, adding terminal capacity for several hundred more arriving and departing passengers as well as additional aircraft parking. In 1981 the airport was the scene of a gun battle during an attempted coup, when British national Mike Hoare led a group of South African mercenaries disguised as a rugby touring party in what became known as the Seychelles affair. More recently, at least two MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft have crashed into the Indian Ocean near the airport since December 2011.
The airport remains the home base and head office of Air Seychelles and is the country's sole international gateway, with international, domestic and cargo terminals in close proximity. It is served by a range of international carriers alongside Air Seychelles, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Condor. A Seychelles Public Defence Force base occupies the island at the southeastern end of runway 13.
