The Hindu Business Line : Air Mauritius plans flights to Bangalore

Mumbai April 16 With the number of Indian tourists to Mauritius (especially from South India) going up by 50 per cent in the last three years, Air Mauritius plans to start a direct Bangalore-Mauritius flight by mid-2008.

Speaking to Business Line on the potential of the Indian market, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Manoj R.K. Ujoodha, said, "India is going to be an important market with an emerging middle class and the rising per capita income of the Indian population. Lot of Indians wish to travel, and we capture a very small percentage of that."

Going by the figures from the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, India, around 37,000 Indians travelled to Mauritius in 2006. "We are expecting a growth of 10 to 15 per cent in 2007, primarily because of the higher carrying capacity of Air Mauritius," said Mr Rajeev Nangia, Associate Director, Mauritius Tourism. The airline recently replaced its Boeing 767s with A340 to raise its seating capacity by 70 per cent. Airbus A330 will be introduced in November, Mr Ujoodha said.

Revenue target

Air Mauritius is looking at their Indian strategy in terms of revenue with the target of Rs 100 crore in 2007-08. In 2006-07, the revenues from India were Rs 74.5 crore.

Strengthening its presence in India, the airline has appointed Mr Girish Vidwans as Head of Sales & Marketing for India and Mr Sampath Kumar Jayram as Sales & Marketing Manager for the southern region. "We will be finalising someone for New Delhi soon," he said. Also, representative offices in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi, Bangalore and Chandigarh are to be set up to tap the tourism potential in these cities.

Tie-ups with tour operators

Air Mauritius will also enter into strategic partnerships with select tour operators in Mumbai and Delhi to expand its business from sale of air tickets to complete holiday packages.

"It should come through in the next six months," Mr Ujoodha, CEO added, refusing to name the tour operators.

At present, Air Mauritius is flying twice a week out of Delhi, thrice a week from Mumbai that run into four during peak time (summer months) and once a week from Chennai.

"Tourists from Mauritius mainly come for shopping to India and visit our hills," said Mr Nangia of Mauritius Tourism. Adds Mr Ujoodha, "India now has more packages, is getting more sophisticated and becoming a world-class tourist destination. So we are looking not only at Mauritius, but using Mauritius to get traffic from Madagascar and even nearby islands to India."