Reunion’s airline, Air Austral, is expanding its flights across the four corners of Madagascar, as are other airlines. However, the national airline, Air Madagascar, is struggling with its old demons of difficulties of all kinds. Just this week, Air Austral announced the reopening of its flights between Toliara, Fort-Dauphin and Reunion. This was the day after the Malagasy Minister of Transport, Rolland Ranjatoelina, announced that his ministry was having difficulties managing the problems of Air Madagascar.
The Malagasy authorities want to develop the air sector, but in terms of competition, the country is still far from being competitive, even if only in the Indian Ocean region, and on Malagasy territory itself. In addition to operating the Antananarivo-Reunion route, with a daily flight, Nosy Be, already with 4 frequencies per week, Air Austral also operates the link between Toamasina (2 frequencies per week), Antsiranana (one frequency per week) and Mahajanga (3 frequencies). And now one flight per week is planned for Toliara and Fort Dauphin, between 10 and 24 October.
It is true that Madagascar is currently expanding its connectivity with the rest of the world by air. And in this strategy adopted after the health crisis linked to Covid-19, several other airlines already provide air links with the Big Island, from their countries of origin. But logic dictates that this provision should first benefit the national airline, which remains above all a Malagasy state company.
Solving the problems of Air Madagascar, which has now become Madagascar Airlines, despite the many administrative and financial problems, is one of the immediate solutions that the country’s leaders should focus on to turn the economy around via, among other things, the air transport sector. But to do so, it will be necessary for the leaders to get rid of the main sources of the company’s problems.
