Industry Air Mauritius takes delivery of its first Airbus A330neo

The delivery was celebrated during a ceremony held at Airbus´ delivery centre at Toulouse, France. Air Mauritius has become the first A330neo operator in the Southern hemisphere. Moreover, the flag-carrier is the first airline in the world to operate long-haul flights with a combination of Airbus A350 and A330neo.

Air Mauritius has equipped its A330neo with a two-class configuration. In business class, 28 passengers can be welcomed, while 260 passengers can be seated in economy class. At first, the airline will deploy the new aircraft on routes that connect Mauritius with European destinations like London and Geneva. After a successful start of operations, flights to Indian and South East Asian cities will be performed with the aircraft.

Air Mauritius CEO Somas Appavou stated: “I am delighted to welcome our first Airbus A330neo, another milestone in our fleet modernisation programme. The addition of two A330neos to our fleet will bring more flexibility and efficiency to our operations while supporting our network strategy. The A330neo offers similar levels of comfort as the A350 XWB, which has received very favourable feedback from our customers. I strongly believe that with the addition of the A330neo to our fleet, Air Mauritius will further reinforce its focus and emphasis on the customers who are at the very core of our business model.”

Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer added: “Sugar and spice and all things nice! Like its namesake, inspired by the island’s history in developing the sugar industry, their first A330neo will pioneer Air Mauritius into a whole different level of efficiency and flexibility by operating both the A330neo and the A350 XWB, our latest generation widebodies [...] Passengers will enjoy unmatched levels comfort in our award winning ‘Airspace by Airbus’ cabins on both aircraft. Well done to our trusted partner on being the world’s first airline to operate the A330neo and the A350 XWB together - a sweet combination!”

Air Mauritius is the flag-carrier of Mauritius and has its main operational base at Port Louis. Its current fleet consists of nine Airbus aircraft, including the new A330-900, two A350-900s, three A340-300s, two A330-200s and two A319s.