The local civil aviation authority recorded its fastest screening times for arriving passengers at the Seychelles International airport in March this year, whereby an average of 43 minutes was logged per flight. The arrival processes include health, immigration, baggage delivery, and customs.
Crucially, this sees the international airport attaining the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) recommended practice for overall passenger processing of 45 minutes.
“For the first time since the resumption of commercial flights in August 2020, the average overall processing time for arriving passengers was below the 45 minutes target set by ICAO,” said Colin Chang-Tave, the general manager for Airport Management at the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority.
“Currently, 61% of flights are processed within this target – firmly above the 21 % of flights that met this standard in August 2020” he said.
This success follows the digitization of the Immigration processing system and the integration of the blue disembarkation card into the Seychelles Islands Travel Authorization platform.
Since February 21st, international passengers are no longer required to present paper forms to Immigration or Customs on arrival. The Officers simply scan passports handed over to them, to access the information required to enter the country.
As a result, travelers do not have to complete or present any additional paperwork to Seychelles Authorities once their Travel Authorization has been approved. As international travel picks up again, this gives greater confidence to passengers by guaranteeing a contactless travel experience, thus minimizing health risks by limiting interactions on arrival.