AIR MAURITIUS

It’s Air Mauritius’ 40th anniversary next year. What have been your main achievements during this time?

Air Mauritius began as a handling agent, with a small team of aircrafts, and progressed from there. The principle shareholders were mainly directors of BA, Air India, Air France and Rogers and still are. The government is the majority shareholder and then we have public shareholders in industry, through the SIC. So the company in the last 40 years has grown. Our main focus is still aviation, but we have also invested in a big hotel company. Apart from that we have many activities. We manage this [Air Mauritius] building, have a new call center, we outsource, we now have a helicopter service- Mauricopter, and have got two new planes on the way as well as two helicopters. We are spreading our wings with plans for new flights to Rome, Milan, London maybe Manchester, Zurich, Geneva… all through alliances we are working on with other companies.

How has the experience been for you here during this past year and a half?

It has been a challenge. I took over chairmanship at the change of government and the new government has decided to raise tourism to two million people in the next eight years. The sugar and textile industries are down, so government has put all of its eggs in one basket with tourism. This affects aviation. Air Mauritius is now at the juncture of its destiny. We are bound to live up to the challenge, part of it, and glad we are. I believe in this government policy and so respond to this policy. It is a question of the opening of airways. Interests are at stake. Of course Air Mauritius will step up to challenge by increasing its flights to France and England and opening up new flight patterns, like Shanghai, Madrid, maybe new points, like India... so that we will be able to face to challenge

With the opening up of the airways ever present, how are you preparing yourself against the new airline companies?

Air Mauritius is known for its impeccable service, quality and comfort. We have all the right ingredients. We also now have much more intense training, new uniforms, all new reviews of details, such as humidifiers in our new aircrafts, to keep the air more agreeable. We focus on more developed comfort and technology. Details, we feel, should not to be taken for granted. When people come on our airline they feel like they are already stepping into what is Mauritius. As we say Air Mauritius for Mauritius. As I said, we have two new planes and two new helicopters on the way. These plans of fleet expansion were there before the new government policies, but when the policies passed, all of a sudden, it was like a wildfire of incoming competition, the airways are there for the taking. There is no if or but, we cannot rely on our monopoly. The airways will open. The country needs Air Mauritius as much as it does these incoming companies to attain 2 million tourists by 2015. No one can reach it alone. Opening of access was inevitable. We are not worried about people coming in if they have the right infrastructure and product.

In terms of developing your activities, have you come up with a plan? Are there possibilities for you to develop other partnerships like the one you have with Air France? Do you see possibilities of a Middle Eastern Market opening up with Air

Mauritius, considering the arrival of Air Emirates and Qatar Airways?

Yes. We do have plans. I am currently president of the Upcoming Airline Association, a type of forum, where these partnership contacts can be made, nurtured and moved forward. We have already been working on alliances with Kenya Airways and South African Airways within this one year I have been president. The Middle East is not the market for me. There is so much clientele, cargo and handlers, that I don’t see this as market for me, but we do see potential in Dubai!

On the other hand, airlines like Ethiopian Airlines for example, are making way on upscale quality. Mauritius can be a hub for these airlines. We are only at the beginning, but there is no need to go faster than music. We must move cautiously, on the one hand on cost and the transformation process. And to expand, too, may be in contradiction at times. The plan is there, waiting to be implemented, with South Africa and India.

For example, there are booming young communities in the Metropolis’ of India, with people who have the money to travel. Mauritius is 5 hours away and is a little India to them. There is a special link. But we are not seeing the amounts of these people that we would wish. Everyone knows Mauritius, wants come to Mauritius, but they don’t take into account the opportunities which exist to come to Mauritius, so we must change our marketing, go get them where they are. These are specialized markets. It is not just about flying there, and being present there, but linking ourselves intimately with the whole sector through networking, marketing, MTPA, catering to their wants and needs. We must start it the right way, put together a voice. We will go to these places, such as India, but there is much groundwork, back work and homework to be done before, hand in hand, not just from Mauritius.

So in a way this new government policy has been a wake up call to air Mauritius. Not in a negative aspect, but you see this market deals with strategy: government, tourism, all of it. It’s not just the airline. We must cater totally to the needs of each different market we are bringing in. We have the right attitude and the right people to head this transformation process.

What would be your final message for investors and business men coming here?

Mauritius is accessible from any part of the world, thanks to partnerships with all these airlines, even Russian Air companies are coming soon. The message is that Mauritius is easy access, whether directly or through these new airlines.