The Vanilla Alliance has officially been launched during a signing ceremony in Antananarivo on September 21. Founding members include Air Austral (UU, St. Denis de la Réunion), Air Madagascar (MD, Antananarivo), Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius), Air Seychelles (HM, Mahé) and Int'Air Îles (Anjouan).

The five alliance members plan to cooperate to improve connectivity between the Indian Ocean island nations through joint sales and marketing initiatives, and collaboration in the areas of training and customer service. Over time, the carriers hope to be able to establish a joint venture to share revenues and commercial risks on certain routes and to jointly optimize and develop their networks.

Together, the carriers currently serve around 50 destinations with 30 aircraft and serve approximately 2.3 million yearly customers on a network that includes regional destinations in Africa as well as Abu Dhabi International, Bengaluru International, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Beijing Capital, Chengdu Shuangliu, Chennai, Delhi International, Guangzhou, Hong Kong International, Kuala Lumpur International, Marseilles, Mumbai International, Paris CDG, Perth International, Shanghai Pudong, Singapore Changi and Toulouse Blagnac.