GOVERNMENT CASH INJECTION SAVES AIR MADAGASCAR FROM GOING UNDER
(Posted 11th November 2019)
The government of Madagascar has injected an unspecified sum of money into national airline Air Madagascar, allowing the airline to continue operations for now, after last month the carrier was at the brink of declaring bankruptcy.
This situation emerged despite the partnership with Reunion based French airline Air Austral, which in 2017 acquired a 49 percent stake in Air Madagascar.
While operationally this has led to positive developments has the French airline reportedly not injected the funds into Air Madagascar which under the agreement it should have done, and by the looks of it will this not happen, going by a recent statement by Air Austral’s CEO. The amount in question is reportedly worth 40 million Euros, which however is less than a court award against Air Madagascar in favour of Air France to the tune of some 46 million Euros.
While Air Austral, as part of their fleet renewal, recently signed an order for three Airbus A220 aircraft, is a similar order for Air Madagascar hanging in the balance now due to the uncertainty over the airline’s future.
Efforts to find additional investors for Air Madagascar also appear to have so far not been successful, leaving both airline and the partnership with Air Austral under storm clouds.
