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Air Mauritius Plans ‘Big’ On India
Charmaine Fernz - Mumbai
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Raj Beedassy
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“We have big plans for India,' were the challenging words
of Raj Beedassy, area manager - South Asian Sub-Continent and Middle East, Air
Mauritius. Having recently taken over, Beedassy indubitably wants to make a
change in the Indian scenario. "We have a new management structure in place
for Air Mauritius, wherein there are just two area managers for Asia - one based
in India and the other in Kuala Lumpur - this would provide more flexibility
and a better approach for the airline. Our main markets are Paris, France, UK
and Germany but we want to develop India as a major hub in the Asian market.
We had relied on Europe to a great extent but have certainly realised that there
is a lot of untapped potential in India, that is yet to be tapped."
Reminiscing the past year and commenting on future strategies on the Indian
front, Beedassy said, "We witnessed a 20 per cent increase in 2003 over
2002. We are also proud to state that we have an average load factor of 80 per
cent and above. In that view, we are thinking of increasing capacity from Mumbai
and may be Chennai. More frequencies and capacities will only result in enhanced
flexibility for our passengers. Building on the airline - tourism nexus, we
plan to promote religious ceremonies in both countries ie India to Mauritius
and vice versa. Subsequently, plans are also afoot to promote labour traffic
to Mauritius."
There have been a lot of ties between India and Mauritius, so, besides increasing
capacities and frequencies, the airline has other plans too. "Tapping the
Bollywood market would be a resurgent interest. To further enhance this market,
a lot of incentives are provided to film units. Consequently in a bid to tap
the upcoming outbound season, Air Mauritius plans to increase its thrice a week
flight to five times a week, which would be valid from May till mid-July. We
also plan to increase our visibility in the Indian market by consolidating our
current position and promoting the destination as a niche product."
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