Air Austral struggles to fly back to Reunion-Madagascar

Air Austral announced on March 29 that it was unable to provide the two weekly flights it had scheduled between Reunion and Tamatave, the major city on the east coast of Madagascar, in the coming weeks. The country’s authorities ultimately did not authorize the resumption of its rotations, the first since the start of the health crisis in the Indian Ocean in March 2020.

Since the gradual reopening of regular air links affecting Madagascar on March 5, the Reunionese company is only authorized to fly twice a week to Tananarive, the capital, with its 132-seat Airbus A220-300. Before the crisis, Air Austral provided 16 frequencies per week to 6 destinations on the Big Island and transported nearly 130,000 passengers in 2019. Under pressure from its customers, it tried in vain to obtain from the Malagasy authorities the gradual restoration of its program. .

Concerns about the fight against illicit trafficking, in gold in particular, seem to be added to those of controlling the Covid-19 epidemic to explain the country’s reluctance to reopen its borders, despite repeated calls from its tourism sector. Additional data: the bankruptcy of the national company Air Madagascar, included since the beginning of the year in a new entity, Malagasy Airlines, which is not able to serve Reunion.

The prices are soaring

“We are in a resolutely constructive approach, comments Dominique Dufour, General Secretary of Air Austral. Even if we have not been formally asked to do so, we are ready to collaborate with the Malagasy authorities and the airports concerned to help them achieve their objectives in the fight against trafficking. Likewise, we are ready to establish a codeshare agreement with Malagasy Airlines in order to maintain balance and reciprocity”.

In the meantime, impatience wins the Malagasy diaspora of Reunion. On March 23, several dozen of its representatives demonstrated in Saint-Denis to demand the reopening of lines to the provinces of the Big Island but also to protest against soaring prices. A ticket between Saint-Denis and Tananarive during the next July-August holidays is already displayed at more than 700 euros on the Air Austral website, compared to around 400 euros in high season before the crisis.

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