Though distressed by the news that Air Mauritius has been placed under voluntary administration, the SA travel trade says this will not prevent South Africans from returning to Mauritius following the lifting of travel bans - nor will it necessarily prevent the airline from resuming flights to South Africa and elsewhere in future.
“This was very unexpected and we at Holiday Factory are deeply saddened by this news. However our understanding is that financial administration does not prevent the airline from operating, as the airlines funds are now in the hands of the administrators, Grant Thornton. To date we have not been notified of any changes to the schedule or of route cancellations. If this changes we will of course be keeping those agents with affected bookings informed and up-to-date. I have no doubt that holidays to Mauritius will live on – it is too good a holiday to not experience,” said sales director of Holiday Factory, Matthew Fubbs.
Md of World Leisure Holidays, Ramesh Jeenarain, said that this news was a sign of the times and it shows how detrimental to the aviation, travel and hospitality industries the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be. He said that he believed that the airline’s decision to move voluntarily into administration rather than to run into the ground unaided was a responsible one. Ramesh added that airlines around the world were looking for government support to assist them through this crisis.
While the particulars of how flight schedules would be affected by this decision are still unclear, Ramesh said that Air Mauritius would be aware of the need to retain both the trade and the public’s support for the future and it was his hope that the airline’s credit vouchers and agent incentives would continue to be honoured by the airline.
An anonymous industry source told eTNW that as soon as Mauritius and South Africa were able to lift the travel ban and restrictions, people will want to fly to Mauritius again. The source pointed out that there is already MK inventory bookable in the GDS from May 16 onwards, and added that MRU is still South Africans’ favourite overseas destination.
The airline routes between the two countries have traditionally been serviced directly by SAA, Air Mauritius and Comair, all of which are currently facing financial difficulties.
