La Réunion-based carrier, Air Austral (UU), is set to partner the Mayotte Chamber of Commerce and Industry among other shareholders in setting up a new regional carrier to be based out of Dzaoudzi.
According to the Indian Ocean press, the new airline, Ewa, will be majority owned by Air Austral (51%) with other partners, including the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (20%), holding the rest.
Using start-up capital of EUR4.5million, plans are in the pipeline to have the airline in the skies by November with tentative routes to include Dzaoudzi to:
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| EWA Airlines Planned Network (GreatCircleMapper) |
Madagascar:
- Nosy Be (2x weekly)
- Majunga (3x weekly)
Comoros:
- Moroni (2x weekly with one supplementary flight in conjunction with Air Austral)
- Anjouan (2x weekly)
Tanzania:
- Dar es Salaam (1x weekly)
Mozambique:
- Pemba (2x weekly in partnership with LAM - Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (TM) though this is still unconfirmed).
It is hoped that Ewa will establish Mayotte as a regional hub for countries in and around the Mozambique Channel, in line with previously outlined objectives.
During a conference on Air Connectivity in Indianocéanie earlier this month, Lionel Montocchio, the Director of the Civil Aviation Authority in Réunion, stated that a well developed regional network would help stimulate demand on long haul routes for the region's four carriers (Air Austral, Air Madagascar (MD), Air Mauritius (MK) and Air Seychelles (HM)) though any move would necessarily be dependent on a coordinated liberalization of traffic rights between the respective islands.