Air Mauritius is the flag carrier airline of Mauritius. The airline is headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius, with its hub at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport.
History
Foundation
The company was established on 14 June 1967 by Air France, BOAC and the Government of Mauritius, with a 27.5% stake each; the balance was held by Rogers and Co, the general sales agent for Air France and BOAC in Mauritius.
In the beginning, the carrier operated international services in conjunction with Air France, Air India and British Airways, which jointly had a 25% holding in Air Mauritius at that time. Until 1972, the company restricted its activities to ground services only; it started flight operations in its own right in August 1972 with a six-seater Piper PA-31 Navajo aircraft leased from Air Madagascar, connecting Mauritius with Rodrigues. The aircraft wore an Air Mauritius decor, but kept a Malagasy registration.
In 1973, a wet-leased Vickers VC10 from British Airways enabled the company to launch a long-haul route to London via Nairobi, whereas services to Bombay were operated by Air India. The Navajo was replaced with a 16-seater Twin Otter that was acquired in 1975. When an agreement with Air France and British Airways came to an end, a Boeing 707-400 wet-leased from British Airtours helped the airline to start long-haul services in its own right. Long-range operations started on 1 November 1977. A second Twin Otter arrived in 1979.
Services expansion
By April 1980, the company had 414 employees and a fleet of one Boeing 707-420, one Boeing 737-200 and two Twin Otters to serve a route network of passenger and cargo services to Bombay, London, Nairobi, Réunion, Rodrigues, Rome and Tananarive. Ownership of the company had changed to have the Government of Mauritius as the major shareholder (42.5%), followed by Rogers & Co. (17.5%), Air France and British Airways (15% each) and Air India (10%). At July 1980, the carrier's network consisted of Bombay, London, Nairobi, Réunion, Rodrigues, Rome and Tananarive.
Air Mauritius acquired a second-hand Boeing 707-320B in 1981. It had previously belonged to South African Airways (SAA) and permitted the airline to return the Boeing 707-400 to British Airtours. In November 1981, a joint service between Air Mauritius and Air Madagascar began in the Tananarive–Mauritius–Comoros–Nairobi and Réunion–Mauritius runs, following the lease of an Air Madagascar Boeing 737. During the early 1980s, routes to Durban and Johannesburg were inaugurated using Boeing 707-320B aircraft flown with Air India and British Airways crews. The incorporation of a second aircraft of the type, bought from Luxavia, allowed the carrier to expand the European route network to Rome and
Fleet modernisation
Valued at US$122 million and financed by a group of banks that included Barclays, BNP, Crédit Lyonnais and the Spectrum Bank, the company took delivery of two Boeing 767-200ERs in April 1988. These aircraft were named "City of Port Louis" and "City of Curepipe". One of them set a record-breaking distance for commercial twinjets on 18 April 1988, when it flew non-stop from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Mauritius, covering a distance of almost 9000 mi in less than 17 hours.[3] A contract worth US$8.9 million including spare parts for these two Boeing 767s had been signed a year earlier. Also in 1988, a Boeing 707 was leased from Air Swazi Cargo to operate freighter services, and the first ATR 42 started revenue flights in December, replacing the Twin Otters on inter-island services. A second ATR 42 was ordered in September 1989.
By March 1990, the route network included Antananarivo, Bombay, Durban, Geneva, Harare, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Moroni, Munich, Nairobi, Paris, Reunion, Rodrigues, Rome, Singapore and Zürich.[4]
2000 onwards
At April 2000, Air Mauritius had 2,000 employees. At this time, the airline had a fleet of five Airbus A340-300s, one ATR 42-300, two ATR 42-500s and two Boeing 767-200ERs that served a route network including Antananarivo, Brussels, Cape Town, Delhi, Durban, Frankfurt, Geneva, Harare, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Mahe Island, Manchester, Maputo, Mauritius, Melbourne, Milan, Mumbai, Munich, Paris, Perth, Rodrigues Island, Rome, Singapore, Saint-Denis, Saint-Pierre, Vienna and Zürich.
African medium-haul routes started utilising the Airbus A319 following its delivery in 2001. The A340-300 was ordered by the carrier in mid 2005. The A340-300 Enhanced was put on service on the London Heathrow route in December 2006, soon after delivery. In late 2007, the fleet saw the incorporation of the Airbus A330-200; a second aircraft of the same type was delivered in October 2009.
Shanghai became the destination served by the company in early July 2011. During 2012, the airline suspended its services to Frankfurt, Geneva, Melbourne, Milan and Sydney. At April 2013, the airline's five top routes in terms of available seats were Mauritius–Reunion, Mauritius–Paris, Mauritius–Johannesburg, Mauritius–Antananarivo
Corporate affairs
Key people
As of March 2019, Dev Manraj held the chairman position, and Buton Indradev was the officer in charge.[12] Dev Manraj was a key figure in the MCB-NPF financial scandal which came to light in 2003.[13] In December 2022, Krešimir Kučko, former Croatia Airlines and Gulf Air CEO, was appointed CEO of Air Mauritius. However, in September 2023, CEO Kučko and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Laval Ah Chip were both stood down after an investigation which revealed that they had enjoyed free holidays paid for by a supplier of Air Mauritius. CEO Kučko was replaced by Charles Cartier in 2022.[14]
Destinations
Following is a list of destinations Air Mauritius flies to according to their passenger scheduled services, as of October 2018. The table below provides each country served along with the destinations the airline flies to, as well as the name of the airports served. Terminated destinations are also listed.
In September 2015, the carrier signed a cooperation agreement with Air Austral, Air Madagascar, Air Seychelles and Int'Air Îles that established the Vanilla Alliance and is aimed at improving air services between the Indian Ocean Commission members.
As of October 2018, Air Mauritius served 22 destinations from its hub in Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, two of them[47] domestic.
Codeshare agreements
Air Mauritius has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[48]
Fleet
Recent developments and future plans
In July 2014, during the Farnborough Air Show, it was announced Air Mauritius signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for six Airbus A350-900s, of which two would be leased from AerCap and with the option to place additional orders for up to three more aircraft of the type between 2023 and 2025. It was originally planned that the leased aircraft would join the fleet by the end of 2017 and the other four would join in 2019 and 2020.
In February 2017, Air Mauritius announced that it would be leasing two Airbus A330-900 aircraft from Air Lease Corporation to replace two Airbus A340-300E aircraft from September and October 2018. Due to delays from Airbus, these aircraft were delivered in April and June 2019.[55][56] The two Airbus A350-900 that were due to be delivered in 2020, were pushed back to 2023. It was also announced that the airline's existing aircraft would be refurbished with new seats, new inflight entertainment systems and onboard Wi-Fi.
See also
- List of airlines of Mauritius
- List of defunct airlines of Mauritius
- Transport in Mauritius
Further reading
Bibliography
External links
References
- Air Mauritius on ch-aviation ch-aviation, retrieved 2023-12-04^
- Board of Directors Air Mauritius^
- Boeing 7-Series – Fast Facts: Boeing 767 Boeing^