Saturday, January 21, 2012

Air Mauritius to increase flight frequency to Mumbai from April 2012

In a bid to consolidate their presence in the Indian market, Air Mauritius will increase flight to Mumbai to four flights a week from April 2012. Currently, the airline operates three flights to Mumbai a week. The airline, which is also the national carrier of Mauritius, also inaugurated its Mumbai office in Andheri East yesterday. The Mumbai office is the first space to be owned by Air Mauritius in its entire network in India. Speaking at the inauguration, Donald E Payen, Executive Vice-President - Commercial & Communications, Air Mauritius, said that India was an important market for the airline and this year, its focus would be on increasing capacities and frequencies in the country and not on adding new destinations.
The airline also recognised some of its leading travel trade partners in India with awards at the inauguration. Among those felicitated were Akbar Travels India, Cox & Kings, Kuoni India, MakeMyTrip, Riya Tours & Travels Ltd, Thomas Cook India, Travel Services International, Yatra Online, Cleartrip and Sachin Travels.
Currently, besides Mumbai, Air Mauritius operates one flight each from Chennai, Bengaluru and New Delhi. With the increase in frequency to Mumbai, the airline will operate a total of seven from India per week, and will offer a cumulative 2,900 seats per week, which is a 12 per cent increase in capacity. Payen said, “Currently, we are averaging a healthy load factor of 80 per cent on our flights and we will look to maintain this throughout the year. Our main aim is to develop exchanges between India and Mauritius as well as the countries in the Indian Ocean rim.”