Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius) has announced it has entered into voluntary administration after the carrier's board determined that it would not be able to meet its financial obligations in the foreseeable future.
The majority-state-owned carrier said in a stock market filing that it had appointed A. Sattar Hajee Abdoula and Arvindsingh K. Gokhool of Grant Thornton as administrators with effect from 1400L on Wednesday, April 22.
Air Mauritius highlighted that in January 2020 its board had set up a Transformation Steering Committee with the aim of addressing the carrier's financial difficulties and reviewing its business model in order to ensure a sustainable future.
However, while wide-ranging consultations were held with all concerned stakeholders and substantial progress was made in formulating an action plan, COVID-19-related global travel restrictions coupled with the closure of borders in all of Air Mauritius's markets and the cessation of all international and domestic flights in an unprecedented crisis have led to the complete erosion of the airline's revenue base. Furthermore, it highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the resumption of international air traffic amid indications that normal activities will not pick up until late 2020.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Air Mauritius leases two A350-900s from AerCap (both of which were sub-leased to bankrupt South African Airways), two A330-900s from Air Lease Corporation, one A330-200 from Doric Asset Finance, and two ATR72-500s from Nordic Aviation Capital. It owns two A319-100s and a single ATR72-500 for which it had been seeking sales/lease-back offers.
