Air Mauritius plans “air corridor” with Singapore’s Changi airport

March 18th 2016

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Air Mauritius this week launched its first nonstop A330-200 flight to Singapore, replacing Kuala Lumpur as its Asian transfer hub, as the island nation looks to the Asia-Pacific for new business, marketing itself as an international financial centre, Bloomberg reported. Read More »

Dr Arjoon Suddhoo, the carrier’s chairman, told The Business Times: "We've been flying to Kuala Lumpur for about 15 years, but Changi Airport offers us a new opportunity and this is the right time to exploit it." He said the "marketing might" of Changi Airport is stronger than that of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), which he hoped would boost Mauritius as a destination for Asians.

Mauritian media reports said Changi had offered incentives and subsidies of S$2 million (US$1.8 million) to Air Mauritius. It would help promote Mauritius and Air Mauritius through channels such as fairs and roadshows.

The first flight, with Mauritian deputy prime minister, Charles Gaëtan Xavier-Luc Duval, onboard was welcomed by Singapore’s transport minister, Khaw Boon Wan, on Tuesday morning. Later, at a forum attended by Singaporean representatives from business and the diplomatic corps, Xavier-Luc Duval unveiled the "Asia-Africa Air Corridor", an initiative aimed at marketing Mauritius and Singapore as air hubs to foster air routes that would move goods, capital and people between Asia, Africa and beyond.

The airline flies to Singapore three times a week. It said forward bookings to December look robust, so it plans to increase frequency to five-weekly later this year and explore code share opportunities with Singapore Airlines (SIA). Air Mauritius’ has a fleet of two A319s, two A330-200s, six A340-300s, two ATR72s plus six A350s on order. The first two, leased from AerCap, will arrive in 2017, with the remaining four, directly purchased from Airbus, to join the fleet in 2019-2020. They will replace the A340s.