Air Mauritius

Vanilla Islands carriers Air Seychelles and Air Austral make capacity cuts

Under what has been dubbed a “restructuring effort”, Air Seychelles has cut 77% of its total seat capacity. Between Nov-2011 and Mar-2012, the airline will cut all routes except for its domestic services, which includes one scheduled service to Praslin Island and a handful of chartered services operated on behalf of hotels, and its twice weekly service to Mauritius. The carrier in Oct-2011 had a restructuring plan, CEO changes and corporate re-branding, which were intended to result in a renewed focus on high-end tourism, as CAPA wrote at the time. Just two months later, the carrier announced deep capacity cuts, suggesting more drastic measures were needed.

Fellow Vanilla Islands Group (an affiliation of the island nations Seychelles, Madagascar, La Reunion, Mauritius and Comoros that are supposed to work together to promote tourism and investment) carrier Air Austral, based in La Reunion, will also make capacity cuts to its long-haul network although it is looking to Asia Pacific and remains intent on keeping its European services operating. Meanwhile, Air Mauritius recently reported an unexpected net loss in its 2QFY2011 results, Air Madagascar can only operate to the European Union through a charter agreement with EuroAtlantic Airways due to its presence on the EU Airspace blacklist, and Comores Aviation only operates a handful of destinations around the Vanilla Islands Group and Eastern Africa. Overall, future prospects for the group look bleak unless collaboration efforts are taken more seriously.

Air Mauritius’ second quarter falls deep into the red as carrier hit hard by the European crisis

Air Mauritius’ largest markets were hit hard by the European debt crisis, resulting in a loss in its usually profitable second quarter. The airline reported a net loss in 2QFY2012 of EUR6.3 million, compared to a nearly EUR5 million profit in the same period last year. The European debt crisis that hit Mauritius’ largest markets contributed to the loss and has set the carrier up for future challenges. While Mauritius reported a small increase in tourism arrivals for Oct-2011, thanks to a new air link with China that increased Chinese tourism arrivals by 161%, tourism overall is expected to fall, placing further pressure on the carrier.

Air Seychelles, restructuring, gets fourth CEO in as many years

Air Seychelles, which has reported its second consecutive year of losses in the FY2010/2011 period, has embarked on a restructuring programme under its new CEO. The carrier is crucial to the Seychelles’ tourism industry and has a renewed focus on the sector. Over half of all air arrivals reach the country on Air Seychelles flights, but the carrier has been struggling in recent years from high fuel prices and rising competition, particularly from Middle Eastern network carriers.

Improving connectivity to Europe is important as most of the island nation’s tourism comes from France, the UK, and as of 2009, Russia. Developing new source markets is vital but has proven difficult, as seen through Air Seychelles’ continuing attempts to establish an Asian hub.

Air Seychelles’ new CEO, Bram Steller, took office on 01-Oct-2011, replacing Maurice Loustau-Lalanne. Mr Steller is the carrier's fourth CEO in as many years.

Narita sees 60% pax decline since Japan earthquake; UK budget shakes shares

The outlook after the Japanese earthquake was still not entirely clear this week even as Narita International Airport Corporation stated all operations at the airport had returned to normal, and Delta reported it was operating its “normal” 40 flights a day to Japan.