Another airline has just entered administration…
In this post:
Air Mauritius enters voluntary administration
The Board of Directors of Air Mauritius has today made the decision to place the airline into voluntary administration.
The airline was struggling before this all started, and in January 2020, management had set up a Transformation Steering Committee, intended to address the financial difficulties of the business model.
While the company claims progress was made, the current situation has led to “a complete erosion of the company’s revenue base.”
With uncertainty about when international air traffic will resume, and with indications showing that this may not happen until late 2020, the airline is left without options.
Air Mauritius won’t be able to meet financial obligations in the foreseeable future, and therefore the company has been placed into voluntary administration.
Air Mauritius was struggling before this started
Over the past several years, Air Mauritius has swung in and out of profitability. In the last financial year, the airline reported a 29 million EUR loss, compared to a 4.9 million EUR profit the previous year.
Air Mauritius operates a fleet of 13 aircraft, including:
- Two A319s
- Two A330-200s
- Two A330-900neos
- Two A340-300s
- Two A350-900s
- Three ATR-72s
The airline had four A350-900s, but two of them have been leased to South African Airways, an airline that’s in an even worse financial situation.
As is the case with many national airlines, Mauritius relies heavily on the airline to bring tourists and supplies to the island. Even if the airline isn’t turning a direct profit, there’s value to the country in having a national airline, given the overall benefit it provides.
Bottom line
Air Mauritius has entered voluntary administration. I’m not sure how this is going to play out, though I imagine Mauritius will keep their national airline alive as much as possible.
The airline has just in the past few years acquired six new long haul aircraft, which seemed ambitious, especially as two have already been leased to other airlines. I wonder if we’ll see Air Mauritius dump more of their new planes to cut costs, or instead retire their older planes (like the A340-300… which was in the works already).
I noticed that theres a trend here..
Both Air Mauritius and South African Airways had the same CEO when they made large aircraft orders.
Andre Viljoen was SAA CEO when they had an Airbus overhaul in 2002, ordering a large number of A319s, A340-300 and A340-600s. He left 2 years after, and became acting CEO of Air Mauritius in December 2010. Under his leadership, Air Mauritius made an order for six A350-900s at...
I noticed that theres a trend here..
Both Air Mauritius and South African Airways had the same CEO when they made large aircraft orders.
Andre Viljoen was SAA CEO when they had an Airbus overhaul in 2002, ordering a large number of A319s, A340-300 and A340-600s. He left 2 years after, and became acting CEO of Air Mauritius in December 2010. Under his leadership, Air Mauritius made an order for six A350-900s at the 2014 Farnborough Air Show. He left not long afterwards about a year later.
He is now repeating the same things with Fiji Airways as he is the current CEO there now, ordering 5 737 Max 8s, 2 A330-200s in 2017 and 2 A350-900s in 2019. I wont be surprised if Fiji Airways becomes the next airline to buckle in this Covid-19 Pandemic. Think about it; Fiji is a tourism dependant nation of less than 1 million citizens. It however has 6 A330s, 5 737 Max 8s and 2 A350-900s.
I do not see why the tax payers should should bear the burden of the heavy cost of rescue for Air Mauritius.
Air Mauritius is one of the most expensive destination from Australia.
As a Mauritian , I flew almost every year for the last 20 years..... but never more !
Now with the corona virus pandemic it will be even more difficult to attract Australians to visit Mauritius.
We need...
I do not see why the tax payers should should bear the burden of the heavy cost of rescue for Air Mauritius.
Air Mauritius is one of the most expensive destination from Australia.
As a Mauritian , I flew almost every year for the last 20 years..... but never more !
Now with the corona virus pandemic it will be even more difficult to attract Australians to visit Mauritius.
We need competition in the airline industry in Mauritius....There has been enough coruption within Air Mauritius which have been covered up by different govermments for many years. Enough of protectionism! The tax payers in Mauritius shold not have to pay for a failing company and from Mauritians living overseas, through exhorbitant cost of ticketing !!!
We Mauritians know of the corruption that have existed within Air Mauritius and the political incestious relationship that have gone on for years with the different political parties in power.
Let there be competition ! It would be better for both tourism from Europe and reduce the cost of ticketing from Australia.
Philippe Ragaven.
@Hamidkhan - what other destinations in Africa are becoming more popular at the expense of Mauritius?
It's s pity to see the end of Air Mauritius. As a lot of you said, incompetent , mismanagement and greed has played a big part in this. What I don't understand is how come Air Mauritius do not have the capacity to stay afloat! Surely it's been only 1 month or so after complete lockdown. What happened to the reserve float that all companies must hold to sustain uncertainties and staff unpaid leaves? I...
It's s pity to see the end of Air Mauritius. As a lot of you said, incompetent , mismanagement and greed has played a big part in this. What I don't understand is how come Air Mauritius do not have the capacity to stay afloat! Surely it's been only 1 month or so after complete lockdown. What happened to the reserve float that all companies must hold to sustain uncertainties and staff unpaid leaves? I always complain when I purchase my tickets every year Aust/Mru/Aust because they charge an arm and a leg due to their monopoly! Bring back Air Maurice! Remember Harry Saminaden?
even if an investor offered to buy Air Mauritius any offer would be refused because our prime minister will want something for his pocket first, very bad management for the Airline, incompetent staff who seem to be rewarded for their incompetents, very bad decision making, its not just Air Mauritius but other companies such as Maubank which I remember resently had many offers but due to greed lies and deception the buyers walked away, all...
even if an investor offered to buy Air Mauritius any offer would be refused because our prime minister will want something for his pocket first, very bad management for the Airline, incompetent staff who seem to be rewarded for their incompetents, very bad decision making, its not just Air Mauritius but other companies such as Maubank which I remember resently had many offers but due to greed lies and deception the buyers walked away, all these is due to agreement between the management and our PM.
This is the result of incompetency at the helm of the company coupled with overambitious blindness. The quality of service had gone down while ticket costs were not competitive. The recent acquisition of 6 Airbus A350 was irresponsible when tourism was on the downturn as other destinations in Africa become more attractive. I could see this outcome coming, as the company was taking the same turn as Air Afrique. Will MK survive? It should not...
This is the result of incompetency at the helm of the company coupled with overambitious blindness. The quality of service had gone down while ticket costs were not competitive. The recent acquisition of 6 Airbus A350 was irresponsible when tourism was on the downturn as other destinations in Africa become more attractive. I could see this outcome coming, as the company was taking the same turn as Air Afrique. Will MK survive? It should not in its current configuration and management.
Mauritius is indeed a beautiful country. We went 4 years ago but flew Air France because of the horrible reviews of Air Mauritius on the web at the time. AF were fantastic providing us with upgrades from PE to business on this long journey from CDG. We will return to visit the lovely people we met there.
Have been surprised that Qatar doesn't have a direct route to Mauritius
I was scheduled to fly them on the non-stop from Delhi in October - does anyone know what happens to existing tickets under these circumstances? I'm wondering if I'll have to cancel my entire trip... man I was really looking forward to this one, too, as I've heard such wonderful things about Mauritius.
Any advice from this super savvy and well connected OMAAT community?
Indeed very sad for our national airline!!!
Well it was obvious this day would happen; Overstaff, too much priviledges offered, mismanagement..and now eith the covid.
Well, i hope a solution is found soon and the situation be back to normal.
Another thing I regret also is that, Ben, you have never reviewed any flight of Air Mauritius. I would have loved to see ya and your friends on board ( am an ex-cabin crew of the airline)
I reckon the Mauritian government will step in to keep this one alive. A small island that relies a lot on tourism can’t afford not to have a carrier of its own.
However I don’t see the long haul aircraft staying. It will most likely be slimmed down to regional sized airline with short haul aircraft flying to different parts of Southern Africa. So Perth can now kiss goodbye to direct flights to anywhere in Africa. First SAA now this.
Beautiful country.