Air Seychelles, 40% owned by Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad, has almost doubled international passenger numbers in the past year, the airline said.
More than 55,000 people flew on Air Seychelles international flights during the third quarter, compared to 28,847 in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, total passenger numbers who travelled on domestic services grew by 42.4% to 99,946.
The airline said the growth was due to a number of new services and an expanded international fleet this year.
The airline’s Abu Dhabi route was one of the best performers, with the number of passengers more than doubling during Q3 compared to last year.
Nearly 23,000 people flew on the route, helping to increase seat factor to 63.7%, despite a 67.7% increase in available seat kilometres.
Across the airline’s network, available seat kilometres more than doubled from 156m to nearly 368m in the past year.
Revenue from passengers soared at a similar rate, to US$209.8 million, from US$89.8 million.
Air Seychelles CEO Cramer Ball said the airline was on track to record its second consecutive year of profitability.
“We have seen solid performance across our entire network in Q3 with solid growth in all our key markets and a strong and accelerating contribution from our code-share partners,” Ball said.
“With our continuing focus on containing costs, we are confident we will deliver a strong financial return to our shareholders and to our home economy.”
The airline’s Mauritius route also recorded its highly quarterly performance in three years, with additional flights added in August to cope with demand during the holiday period.
Traffic on the airline’s services to Hong Kong via Abu Dhabi saw a quarter-to-quarter increase of 21.6 per cent, while traffic to Johannesburg rose 11.8 percent year-on-year growth with a 342 per cent quarter-to-quarter growth in revenue contribution from South African Airways.
Cargo also performed well during Q3, with a 190 per cent year-on-year growth in tonnage, from 561,945 to 1.6m tonnes.
Etihad bought a 40% stake in the airline in January 2012, in a joint-investment agreement with the Seychelles government.
The UAE national carrier also lent the airline US$25 million to help it expand.
