On 18th July 2018, Air Madagascar, Kenya Airways & Air Austral signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU) in Antananarivo, Madagascar. By signing the MoU, the three companies laid the foundations for a new partnership whose main aim was to boost their footprints in Africa and the Indian Ocean Island.
After 5 months since the signing of the MoU, the three airlines met on December 17, 2018, in Nairobi to formalise the privileged partnership to develop code share agreements and increase the connectivity options and offer a wider choice of services to customers.
Rolland Besoa Razafimaharo, CEO of Air Madagascar, Sebastian Mikosz, Group Managing Director and CEO of Kenya Airways and Marie-Joseph Malé, President and CEO of Air Austral, signed, a “Privileged Partnership Agreement” which will strengthen the strategically positioned hubs in Antananarivo, Nairobi and Saint-Denis de La Réunion boosting their footprints in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
Through the privileged partnership, the three airlines sealed their commitment to offer their customers a larger choice of destinations and service with more efficient connections via their hubs. In addition to this partnership, the respective subsidiaries of the three partners namely Tsaradia, Jambojet and Ewa Air from Madagascar, Kenya & Reunion Island respectively, are also part of the Privileged Partnership Agreement and shall be included as participants in later phases of implementation.
The code sharing agreement between Kenya Airways and Air Madagascar on Antananarivo – Nairobi route will be effective from January 21, 2019, while the code share agreement between Kenya Airways and Air Austral on Nairobi – La Reunion route via Antananarivo will be implemented at a later stage.
“The sign of this “Privileged Partnership Agreement” is one more common step for the three airlines. Code-sharing with Kenya Airways on the Nairobi-Antananarivo and Nairobi-Reunion routes is a strong achievement and a promising first step as to the opportunities this privileged partnership offers for our three companies. Whether commercial or operational, there are many opportunities for synergies. With Air Austral, our strategic partner, and now Kenya Airways, our privileged partner, we firmly intend to deploy them for the development of our respective presence in the Africa and Indian Ocean Zone and thus be able to offer an ever wider offer to our clients,” said Rolland Besoa Razafimaharo, CEO of Air Madagascar.
“Passenger traffic between Africa & Indian Ocean Islands has grown 10% over the last 12 months and this privileged partnership opens more choices for travelers from vanilla islands and Africa. Our customers will now have better access to La Reunion and Madagascar. This is consistent with Kenya Airways’ strategy to grow its revenue and improve network efficiency by growth through partners while focusing on corporate and leisure segments,”said Sebastian Mikosz, Group Managing Director & CEO of Kenya Airways.
“Air Austral is very proud of the execution today of the Privileged Partnership which now ties our three airlines and is unprecedented in the Indian Ocean region. It offers outstanding development opportunities. Nairobi becomes for our customers the gate to the African continent and will allow great developments of trade and tourism. Through the partnership with Kenya Airways, the Air Austral-Air Madagascar Strategic Partnership is on the rise,” said Marie-Joseph Malé, President & CEO of Air Austral.