Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius) is planning to develop the island of Mauritius into a key conduit for passenger and cargo traffic between Africa and Asia Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth has said. To that end, he said, the Indian Ocean-based airline has signed an agreement with Singapore Changi Airport to develop an air corridor between the two airports with Singapore acting as a gateway to the Orient for African traffic and vice versa.
As part of the deal, Changi Airport has offered Air Mauritius an incentive package including preferential fee charges as well as SGD2 million (USD1.45 million) in subsidies. It will also help promote Mauritius and Air Mauritius through fairs, roadshows, and in various other forms.
For its part, Air Mauritius has already outlined plans to expand its Southern African network reach beyond the traditional leisure markets of Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, Cape Town, Durban King Shaka, and Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta to include Dar-es-Salaam and Maputo from May onwards. Thereafter, Harare Int’l, Lusaka, Manzini King Mswati III Int’l, and Gaborone will be added to the schedule later on in the year.
Airline management have alluded to the launch of a new regional subsidiary carrier to service the new mainland destinations but as of this posting, all new routes remain listed with Air Mauritius flight-numbers and aircraft.
