By Louise Longman
AIR Mauritius is
looking to add an extra weekly flight to its Heathrow-Mauritius service to meet
growing demand for the destination.
The additional
flight is likely to be operational by winter 2001, and will bring the total
number of ex-UK services to five, with four from Heathrow and one from
Manchester.
The flight will be
operated by an A340 aircraft and will increase capacity by 25%, from 1200 to
1500 seats.
Air Mauritius
regional manager UK and Ireland Chris Gilbert said: “The scheduled long-haul
market has experienced the Caribbean and the Far East, and it is now looking at
the Indian Ocean as an alternative destination. Those that have travelled to Mauritius have been very surprised with the quality
of the product. It’s not cheap, but it represents good value for money.”
Load factors for
the airline in 1999 were 75%. These have climbed to 80% throughout 2000.
Gilbert said he was confident these load factors could be maintained in 2001.