Dear Editor,
Air Mauritius knows how deeply challenging the effects of COVID-19 have been on the travel industry.
When the lockdown period kicked in in March, it was over the school holiday/Easter period. Most of our partners had allocations or commitments. We released the seats and allowed bookings to be moved or changed with complete flexibility. We did this for individual bookings and even for our groups – and we had a substantial number of groups booked to travel over this period.
It then became apparent that perhaps lockdown periods would be extended and we already knew travel patterns were going to change and when we resumed flights perhaps a staggered approach would need to be considered and seasonality reviewed. It is not business as usual and the travel and aviation landscape will change.
So we then proactively contacted our partners holding allocations or commitments and offered to migrate their June/July seats to September and December periods, to allow for better selling and additional flexibility, as we value our partnerships tremendously. It was very well received and we have been able to migrate the seats.
The objective was to allow our partners to focus on getting their businesses back on track after lockdown (we acknowledge that, with the resumption of flights, which we are aiming for in May 2020, the travel uptake may be slow).
We also decided to remove the seasonality barrier and create a low season period in June/July and beyond, by opening up our Travel Smart value proposition (where two kids fly free and brides fly free, and we give highly discounted rates) so that we can offer people the chance to get away to a close-by destination for a real break where there is sunshine, wide-open spaces and the sea for relaxation. This has been very well received and appreciated by the trade and the many families who had planned an amazing holiday in March and were sadly not able to go.
Our partners are all so positive, despite what we are all facing. That is really inspiring to see.
Carla da Silva
Air Mauritius regional manager Southern Africa and Latin America
