Transformation building a head of steam

Rolland Besoa Razafimaharo took over the reins of the troubled Air Madagascar in October 2017 at the time when the strategic partnership with Air Austral was signed.
Based on five key areas, the plan aims to improve the quality of service at all levels; to ensure economic efficiency; to organise MRO activities; to increase citizen engagement; and to mobilise employee involvement.
According to Besoa Razafimaharo, the implementation is on target. He explained: “We have restored our fleet of aircraft with nine out of 10 now operational. New regional routes are launched, including Tulear to Fort Dauphin-Reunion and Antananarivo to Johannesburg. These have resulted in load-factors increasing by more than 80% on the domestic routes and 53% on long-haul.”
Air Madagascar’s fleet includes three Twin Otters, four ATR72s, one Boeing 737 and two Airbus A340-300s, both of which it plans to replace to save operating costs.
The B737-800 is also scheduled to be retired in 2021 and replaced with three new 120/130-seat aircraft yet to be selected.
Air Madagascar is concentrating on strengthening its domestic and regional network and, last December, it launched a domestic airline named Tsaradia.
“This company is spearheading the transformation of Air Madagascar given the strong regional and international competition and it has already created a dynamic customer base through more flights, increased seating and improved on-board service,” said Besoa Razafimaharo.
Air Madagascar is also concentrating on the regional ‘Vanilla Alliance’ that was relaunched in June 2018 following the meeting of the CEOs of Air Austral, Air Madagascar, Air Mauritius and Air Seychelles. These companies are working to make the tickets more attractive and competitive, and to remove barriers – including taxes – to future development.
The ‘Vanille Pass’ will be launched later in 2019 and the CEO of Air Austral has called for increased mutual cooperation between airlines in the Indian Ocean.
In addition, Air Madagascar and Air Austral have signed a strategic partnership agreement with Kenya Airways to strengthen cooperation between the three companies in commercial, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and chartering. Since March 2019 this tripartite agreement has resulted in code-sharing on flights between Antananarivo and Nairobi, with the goal of making Nairobi a gateway to west and central Africa.