Kenya Airways, Air Madagascar and Air Austral Partner to Boost Expansion

By Soko Directory Team / Published December 18, 2018 | 7:32 am

Kenya Airways, Air Madagascar, and Air Austral on December 18 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Antananarivo, Madagascar in a move to boost their footprints in Africa and the Indian Ocean Island.

The three airlines met on December 17 to formalize the privileged partnership to develop codeshare agreements and increase the connectivity options and offer a wider choice of services to customers.

Rolland Besoa Razafimaharo, CEO of Air Madagascar, Sebastian Mikosz, Group Managing Director and CEO of Kenya Airways and Marie-Joseph Malé, President and CEO of Air Austral, signed, a “Privileged Partnership Agreement” which will strengthen the strategically positioned hubs in Antananarivo, Nairobi and Saint-Denis de La Réunion boosting their footprints in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

Through the partnership, the three airlines sealed their commitment to offering their customers a larger choice of destinations and service with more efficient connections via their hubs. The move will also see the respective subsidiaries of the three partners; Tsaradia, Jambojet and Ewa Air from Madagascar, Kenya & Reunion Island, respectively, be included as participants in later phases of implementation.

The code sharing agreement between Kenya Airways and Air Madagascar on Antananarivo – Nairobi route will be effective from 21st January 2019, while the codeshare agreement between Kenya Airways and Air Austral on Nairobi – La Reunion route via Antananarivo will be implemented at a later stage.

“Code-sharing with Kenya Airways on the Nairobi-Antananarivo and Nairobi-Reunion routes is a strong achievement and a promising first step as to the opportunities this privileged partnership offers for the three companies. Whether commercial or operational, there are many opportunities for synergies,” said Besoa Razafimaharo of Air Madagascar.

“With Air Austral, our strategic partner, and now Kenya Airways, our privileged partner, we firmly intend to deploy them for the development of our respective presence in Africa and Indian Ocean Zone and thus be able to offer an ever wider offer to our clients,” he added.

According to Sebastian Mikosz of Kenya Airways, the passenger traffic between Africa & Indian Ocean Islands has grown 10 percent over the last 12 months and the partnership opens more choices for travelers from Vanilla Islands and Africa.

“Our customers will now have better access to La Reunion and Madagascar. This is consistent with Kenya Airways’ strategy to grow its revenue and improve network efficiency by growth through partners while focusing on corporate and leisure segments,” he said.

On his part, Marie-Joseph said that Air Austral is very proud of the partnership which now ties the three airlines. He said that although the move is unprecedented in the Indian Ocean region, it offers outstanding development opportunities.

“Nairobi becomes for our customers the gate to the African continent and will allow great developments of trade and tourism. Through the partnership with Kenya Airways, the Air Austral-Air Madagascar Strategic Partnership is on the rise,” he concluded.

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