The employees of Air Mauritius are not out of the woods yet. As a refresher, the national aviation company has been under voluntary administration since 22 April 2020. The « watershed meeting » scheduled for this month has been postponed to January 2022 and leaves the employees in limbo. They do not know how the situation will evolve in the coming days. They do not know how the situation will evolve in the coming days when we hear that the borders will be opened … we wonder if the other airlines companies will come and take our markets or if Air Mauritius has the human resources or equipment for this opening.
In addition, the company has disposed off six of its aircraft. The latest one is the Trochetia. An Airbus A 330 – 200 that was in the possession of Air Mauritius since December 2007. The aircraft is currently in Egypt for a complete overhaul. It will then be returned to its owner, namely the German company Doric. The national airline has also put up for sale four other Airbus aircraft, namely two A30s and two A219s.
This adds to the sense of uncertainty among employees as the fleet dwindles.
Another factor is that several Air Mauritius pilots have not flown for some time. And according to current international regulations, a pilot must make at least three actual landings in a 90-day period in order to fly. As a result, the flight licenses of several pilots have become obsolete.
It should also be noted that the 140 ex-employees who were asked to retire after 33 years and one third with the company have still not received their ‘lumpsum’ although it was due this month.
