Seychelles — Kenya Airways (KQ) has been forced to temporarily deploy a bigger aircraft to meet a rising demand for seats from passengers travelling to or from Seychelles on Thursdays this month.

August coincides with the closure of schools for holidays, relieving Kenyan teachers working on the Indian Ocean islands, and also the end of contracts for many other employees in government jobs and in the country's fisheries and hotel industries.

The airline normally dispatches a Boeing 737 which takes a total of 116 passengers, but the Boeing 767 to be deployed from today has 213 seats.

Passengers travelling on Thursday on board will enjoy special fares and baggage allowances, the airline's reservations manager, Zakiya Vidot, announced in Mahe Tuesday..

She said that passengers who travel on the roomier Boeing 767 from today will pay much less than those who will fly on board the Boeing 737 on Sundays.

Because the bigger aeroplane has more space, KQ will also allow travellers who use the 767 up to 10 kilogrammes more in baggage. Furthermore, those who will have excess baggage over and above the 30kg checked in luggage, will pay a low flat rate per kilogramme.

She asked passengers to take advantage of the special Thursday flights which will operate today, on August 24 and August 31.

The influx has partly been caused by a sharp demand from Kenyan workers employed in different sectors on the Indian Ocean archipelago. Schools, which closed on Friday last week, employ about 300 teachers, many of whom are keen to spend their holidays here with their families. The teachers' contracts are also normally timed to end with school terms to avoid disruption to lessons. In addition, the contracts of many of the 250 Kenyans working for the Indian Ocean Tuna company have also ended.

Fearing they would lose their jobs when Heinz food manufacturers announced last year that they were pulling out from IOT, many Kenyans altered their contract plans so as to be released around this time.

At that time, their 1,500 Seychellois co-workers went on strike and demonstrated in the streets of Victoria seeking compensation from Seychelles government which owns 40 per cent shares in the fish cannery.

Although government was not obliged by law to do so, Seychelles President James Michel ordered that the Seychellois be paid an ex gratia payment. When Lehman Brothers took over the company earlier this year, however, it announced plans to expand the factory and to hire more workers.

Increasingly more Kenyans working in Seychelles tourism industry, but they are so scattered within the archipelago that they never meet with the majority of their compatriots who are based on the three main of 115 islands, Mahe, Praslin and La Digue.

Through economic reforms introduced by President Michel, who won re-election last week, investors have flocked into Seychelles to set up $500-$1,000 per night resorts in exclusive outlying islands.

Seychellois avoid working on the outlying islands which desperately need skilled labour in their hotels' industry. Their Government has therefore relaxed employment laws, allowing hotel investments and hiring of foreigners.