Faced with criticism, especially from the international press, the management of Air Mauritius responded by holding a press conference on Saturday. The press conference was hosted by Marday Venketasamy, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Laurent Recoura, Chief Executive Officer of Air Mauritius.
The Chairman emphasised that MK remains “our national and international pride” above all else. He then went back to the issues that had arisen with Covid. He recalled that Air Mauritius was able to recover with the new board in place in October 2021 and is still operating the aircraft today, somewhat more than two years later. Specifically, he adds, by rebuilding the network, the fleet and the new business strategy.
Laurent Recoura also drew attention to the fact that the company’s switchboard was recently overloaded with more than 10,000 calls a day, making it impossible to deal with all the enquiries. As a result, changes have been made to the MK website to improve accessibility and to ensure that all important information is on one page. He also mentioned the MK video made by the French comedian, Gérémy Crédeville, which has been making waves over the past week. In general, Crédeville “makes me laugh, but not so much this time,” he continued. “Like all the other passengers, he was a victim“. He concludes that the fact that Mauritius has not been affected and the trend in bookings is what matters the most.
Laurent Recoura, for his part, noted that MK’s top priority is still the satisfaction of its passengers. He reviewed the meteorological factors that contributed to the disruption at the airport during Belal’s passage, drawing a comparison with the hundreds or even thousands of flights cancelled overseas as a result of snowstorms. He backed up his assertion that MK employees work diligently by citing the example of the commander who was stuck in Cascavelle during the cyclone, but still made every effort to reach the airport in time for his scheduled flight.
