► MADAGASCAR: MTA opens own aerodrome at Bekopaka; eyes twice weekly Antananarivo, Morondava flights.

Madagascar Trans Air, a private small-prop based Malagasy operator, has opened its own airport near the western town of Bekopaka. The facility will help stimulate local tourism trade with the capital, Antananarivo, now just 75minutes away and Morondava now only 30 minutes away by air.

Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park's
rock forest

Christened "Amoborodia", the new aerodrome replaces the neglected state-run strip and offers easier access to the world-renowned Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, located in the Melaky Region and famed for its bizarre limestone rock "forest" featuring gouged caverns and fissures.

MTA will fly twice weekly tourist charters to Bekopaka negating the need for tourists to have to drive 7 hours after their arrival in Antananarivo.

MTA operates various single and twin prop Beechcraft, Cessna and Piper aircraft on charter and air ambulance flights throughout Madagascar as well as to Réunion, Mayotte, Seychelles and Mauritius.