Mayotte to get its own airline

Reunion-based carrier Air Austral, the Mayotte Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a private Mayotte-based Ylang Invest corporation are to create an airline in the French colony of Mayotte in the Comoros islands.
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According to the consortium, Mayotte is currently undergoing such development that access to it must necessarily be improved by the creation of regional airline services. The new Mayotte airline will be based in Dzaoudzi.
The company will have a share capital of €4.5m, of which 51% will be held by Air Austral and 49% by the other partners.
A special taskforce will be set up in July with the expectation of the airline launch in November.
The new airline will be called “EWA,” which Air Austral said is “a meaningful name with connotations of agreement and loyalty”, it will use an ATR 72-500 to provide six direct flights departing from Dzaoudzi linking Mayotte with two weekly flights to Nosy Be and three weekly flights to Majunga in Madagascar; with direct connections to Comoros islands Moroni twice a week and four to Anjouan. Moroni flights will be boosted by additional partnership with Air Austral Early plans also include link with two new African destinations: Tanzania and Mozambique.  
“For Air Austral, this project is consistent with our strategic development and enables us to underpin our leadership position in the Indian Ocean. As the incumbent company present in Mayotte since 1976, we are very proud to be able to contribute towards the opening of this territory, whose market shows great expectations with respect to movement of goods and people,” said Air Austral general manager Marie-Joseph Malé. (Pictured right).
 “The CC&I of Mayotte is involved in major infrastructure projects for companies and for the territory of Mayotte. Making Mayotte a regional airline hub in the Mozambique Channel through EWA is a real answer to the development needs of our island,” said Mayotte CC&I president Norbert Martinez.
“Regional co-operation, the economic development of Mayotte and the employment of our youth are to be achieved by solid alliances with robust operators that will uplift Mayotte. With our corporation, we are opening up the sky of the Mozambique Channel to tourism, and by doing so, we are also developing markets for our entrepreneurs. Mayotte can be proud of the creation of EWA, which opens up new perspectives for the whole population,” Martinez said.