Airlines Air Mauritius files for voluntary administration

The Mauritanian airline has been struggling to stay operational for quite a while but has now entered into administration. With the grounding of the whole aircraft fleet, the airline was not able to meet the financial obligations to resume scheduled services in the future.

In January, the carrier signed off a new transformation program that saw a change of the whole business model and further cost reducing measures. With the sudden loss of all scheduled flights, the airline did not gain enough revenue to pay staff and the aircraft.

In a statement, the Board of Directors wrote: “In these circumstances, it is expected that the Company will not be able to meet its financial obligations in the foreseeable future. The Board, therefore, took the decision to place the Company under voluntary administration in order to safeguard the interest of the Company and that of all its stakeholders.”

On April 14, the airline announced the extension of its flight suspension period until May 15 2020. The carrier added, that flights to and from Rodrigues are suspended until May 04. Eight days later, the carrier filed for voluntary administration.

Since the end of December last year, the carrier was able to better its financial performance slightly to reduce losses, however it was still afflicted with a net loss of around US$ 16 million. Even before the impact of coronavirus, the airline was struggling.

Air Mauritius was the flag-carrier airline of Mauritius and was founded in June 1967. Air Mauritius commenced commercial flight operations in August 1972 and was member of the Vanilla Alliance. The carrier had several subsidiaries and operated from the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport.

The fleet consisted of three ATR 72s, two Airbus A319s, two Airbus A330-200s, two Airbus A330-900s, two Airbus A340-300s and two Airbus A350-900s. The average fleet age was around 11 years. Recently, the airline took delivery of two brand new A350s.