MADAGASCAR GETS BETTER CONNECTIVITY THROUGH CODE SHARE DEALS
(Posted 03rd August 2016)
Information has come to light, that Air Madagascar and Air Seychelles have signed a comprehensive code share deal.
Air Seychelles presently flies four times a week from Mahe to Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, using a dual class configured Airbus A320 on the route.
All four flights will from the 01st of September have the MD code displayed alongside the HM code of the operating carrier.
The deal also extends to four connecting frequencies from Mahe to Abu Dhabi, giving passengers from Antananarivo a through connection to the Gulf where they can then continue their journey with Air Seychelles partner Etihad.
Both islands are part of the Vanilla Island organization and keen to expand connectivity to promote inter island vacations and visits but also stimulate trade b between the tourism partners.
Gilles Filiatreault, Chief Executive Officer of Air Madagascar commented on the deal when he said: ‘As the national airline of Madagascar, one of our main goals is to connect more people to our beautiful home and drive more growth in the tourism industry. Our enhanced codeshare partnership with Air Seychelles fits naturally into our strategy of opening up our island and enabling more travellers to explore Madagascar, whose attractions such as ring-tailed lemurs and majestic baobab trees are known all over the world. By entering into this expanded agreement, we also offer great chances to local travellers as well as tremendous opportunities to business men, allowing them to discover the Seychelles and Abu Dhabi, to appreciate new horizons for tourism benefits and explore new fields for business interests. We will continue to work closely with Air Seychelles to grow our network reach and provide holidaymakers with more choice and flexibility when planning travel to Madagascar‘.
His counterpart, Mr. Roy Kinnear, responded as follows: ‘Deepening our relationship with Air Madagascar will enable us to better promote tourism in the Indian Ocean utilizing our four-weekly Air Seychelles Antananarivo services. As a leading airline in the Indian Ocean and a member of the Vanilla Alliance, we are committed to improving air connectivity in the region to ensure visitors can easily fly to our beautiful islands, and this includes enhancing access to our friendly neighbour Madagascar‘.
