Air Seychelles appoints ex-Etihad official as new CEO

Air Seychelles, in which the Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad has a 40 per cent stake announced that it has replaced its CEO.

Roy Kinnear, an ex-employee of Etihad, will replace Manoj Papa, who was appointed the CEO of Air Seychelles in January last year.

The appointment was approved by the board of Air Seychelles, which is chaired by the country’s minister of foreign affairs and transport Joel Morgan.

“Roy brings new skills for a new phase in the continuous and very successful evolution of Air Seychelles,” said Morgan.

“Air Seychelles is focused on extracting maximum value from its modern fleet and its expanding regional and international network, which it will grow strategically with new destinations and trusted codeshare partnerships.”

Kinnear started his career as the general manager for revenue optimisation at British Airline bmi. He later moved to Gulf Air as the head of network revenue management and then joined Etihad Airways.

He has also previously been a board member and chairman of Amadeus Gulf and Armaguard, both joint ventures of Etihad Airways.

The appointment of Kinnear indicates the growing role that Etihad is playing in Air Seychelles board.

Earlier this year, Air Seychelles appointed Abdulmohsen Al Sayegh- an Emirati employee of Etihad – as the CFO. He replaced another Etihad executive Tara Murphy who returned to the Abu Dhabi carrier.

Etihad’s involvement has also been beneficial to Air Seychelles as the carrier reported a profit of $3.2m in 2014, its third consecutive profitable year since Etihad took a stake.

The aviation ties between Abu Dhabi and Seychelles are also set to deepen as Abu Dhabi Airports company confirmed last week that it is in talks to build a new airport in the capital city of Victoria.