Another airline reached it’s demise today, with Air Mauritius placing itself in voluntary administration amidst the Coronavirus outbreak. Distributing the news via social media, the airline announced it would place itself into administration due to not being able to meet both current and future financial obligations due to Covid-19 disruptions to the international travel and aviation community.
Covid-19: The cause of demise
Air Mauritius cited the Covid-19 outbreak as the primary cause of the administration, saying that the virus has caused the closure of countries borders and travel opportunities – The entirety of the airline’s revenue base. It also cited the uncertainty as to when ‘normal’ air-travel could resume has not given them the opportunity to plan ahead for the future when they could’ve potentially picked up operations again. In a press-statement, the airline said:
“There is uncertainty as to when international air traffic will resume and all indications tend to show that normal activities will not pick up until late 2020.”
Suggesting that travel may not resume to it’s normal pre-Coronavirus state until as late as Q4 2020.
Like many carriers, Air Mauritius has had to ground the majority of their fleet amidst Covid-19 | (c) Andreas Spaeth
Under sections 215 and 216 of the Insolvency Act, it has been announced that Grant Thornton will be appointed as the airline administrators. The insolvency will come into effect from Wednesday 22 April 2020, at 1400 UTC.
The notice distributed via social media by the airline | (c) Air Mauritius
About the airline
Air Mauritius launched in 1967 as the state carrier for the Mauritius, a small island territory off the coast of Eastern Africa, as a joint venture between BOAC (now merged into British Airways), Air France and the Mauritian Government – And is headquartered in Port Louis on the island. The airline operates an extensively Airbus fleet, with a medley of types in it’s fleet including 2 A319’s, 4 A330’s, 2 A340’s, 2 A350’s and 3 ATR-72’s; It was also the first carrier to simultaneously operate the Airbus A350 and A330-900neo aircraft – Airbus’ flagship two aircraft.
The carrier had a mostly Airbus fleet, with a very young average age (11.3yrs) | (c) Airbus
Due to it’s relatively young fleet, on average only 11.3years, the carrier has recently leased two of their new A350’s (both under a year old) to South African Airways; They also had two A330-900’s in the fleet with an average age of only one year also. It is unknown what
The carrier is not the only airline as of recent to voluntary file for administration – Virgin Australia announced a similar fate earlier this week. It is currently unknown what administration options are being assessed for both carriers and what the outcome will be for either airline.
What are your views on this? Do you think either can recover? Let us know in the comments below.
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