Strong profits for Air Mauritius
For the year ended 31 March 2017, the Group and the Company recorded profits of Eur 27.6 million and Eur 26.9 million respectively as compared to profits of Eur 16.5 million and Eur 15.4 million for the previous year.
The number of passengers carried went up by 6.9% to reach a record level of 1,602,632.The number of seats offered increased by 6.1% and the Passenger Load Factor increased from 78.7% to 79.6%. Operating revenue increased by 1.3% from Eur 488.3 million to Eur 494.8 million whereas the operating expenses increased slightly by 0.8% to reach Eur 447.3 million. Consequently, the gross profit increased from Eur 44.4 million to Eur 47.5 million.
During the year, the Company pursued its growth strategy and as such the overall capacity went up by nearly 6%. Moreover, a third ATR72-500 joined the fleet in July 2016 to further consolidate the services to Rodrigues and Reunion.
Outlook
The Company has embarked on a major fleet modernization initiative. The first two A350-900 will join the fleet in October 2017 and November 2017 whilst major cabin renovations will be carried out on the six existing aircraft during January to June 2018. This should substantially enhance the product offering to our customers and better position Air Mauritius to face the growing competition.
Together with Air France/KLM, the Amsterdam operation will be introduced as from October 2017. The Amsterdam operation will allow the Company to target the Dutch market as well as the European markets, particularly the Nordic countries where KLM has a strong foothold. Moreover, seasonal operation to Geneva is planned between November 2017 and February 2018.
The Company continues to face various challenges such as intense competition, leading to yield erosion in most markets, cost escalation, fluctuation in currencies and volatile fuel price.
However, various measures are being taken to meet these challenges and their impact on the performance of the Company during the financial year 2017/18.
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