Air Mauritius to slash widebody fleet

Starting March 1, 2021, Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius) will slash its widebody fleet to four Airbus aircraft and retain its three ATR72-500s, according to an internal document seen by Airfinance Journal. The Indian Ocean Island flag carrier, in administration since April 2020 amid heavy losses worsened by COVID-19, currently has a widebody fleet of nine aircraft, including two A330-200s, two A330-900Ns, two A340-300s, and three A350-900s, with another three A350-900s on order, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module. It also has two A319-100s. As earlier reported, the airline last year put two A340-300s, one A330-200, and two A319-100s up for sale to raise liquidity. According to recent Mauritian reports, a deal has been reached with an unnamed Indian firm for the sale of two A340-300s – 3B-NBD (msn 194) and 3B-NBE (msn 268) – and the two A319-100s – 3B-NBF (msn 1592) and 3B-NBH (msn 1936). With Mauritian borders remaining closed due to COVID-19 concerns, Air Mauritius has been reduced to running international repatriation flights with Rodrigues Island its only scheduled service. Last November, Air Mauritius officer in charge Indradev Buton said the carrier was looking to build its future fleet around the A320Ns and A350s and was likely to phase out all its A330-200s as part of its restructuring plan. Its chief administrators, Sattar Abdoula and Arvindsingh Gokhool, have obtained court approval to delay the presentation of a new business plan until June 2021.