► ITALY: Air Arabia Maroc to start Marrakech - Milan from October.

Air Arabia Maroc (3O), the LCC joint venture between various Moroccan investors and Air Arabia (G9), is to start a once (1x) weekly Sunday service between Marrakech, Morocco and Milan (Bergamo), Italy effective 28 October 2012. The flight will operate with an Airbus A320.

► SEYCHELLES: Blue Panorama to axe Mahé flights?

Italian private airline Blue Panorama Airlines (BV), which operates scheduled and charter flights to various global destinations, is to drop its Italy-Seychelles flights from "mid September" onwards, citing poor loads and passenger numbers, as the Italian economy continues to reel amid the ongoing Eurozone crisis.

Blue Panorama Boeing 767 in Mahè, Seychelles (Okke Behm)

The seasonal charter flights presently operate from Milan-Malpensa and Rome-Fiumicino.

"The tourist board and private sector have to talk to the travel agents and the tour operators to accept the situation and start using for instance Etihad and then connect from Abu Dhabi with Air Seychelles to Mahe. The alternative is to use Qatar Airways or Emirates to come here"

Source [WolfgangThome's Blog]

Italian Tourist Arrivals in Seychelles (NSB)

After Air Seychelles dropped its European routes in January of this year, Blue Panorama moved to fill the void left. However, the departure of Blue Panorama itself would mean there are no longer any direct flights between the Seychelles and Italy - historically a strong source of tourists for the islands.

No official confirmation from Blue Panorama itself has been heard as of publishing.

[UPDATE 31 AUGUST 2012] Amadeus lists the last flight out of Milan Malpensa as leaving on 3 September 2012, with the last flight leaving the Seychelles on 5 September 2012.

► MAURITIUS: Air Mauritius increases seats despite rumours of serious trouble ahead.

Following in the footsteps of Air Seychelles who dropped London, Paris, Milan and Rome before entering into a strategic alliance with Etihad Airways, Air Mauritius has axed 7 International destinations with effect from May 2012 (From 31st May 12: Milan, Sydney, Melbourne and Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva and Durban.from 31 October 2012), whilst increasing seating capacity on its remaining flights by 3% to 1,943,946 seats from 01 April 2012 to 31 March 2013, in an attempt to consolidate its market base.

In a statement on its Facebook, Air Mauritius stated:

The following destinations have been retained: Paris, London, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town, St Denis, St Pierre, Antananarivo, Rodrigues, Perth, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.

The following additional weekly flights have been added:
With effect from April 2012:

• Mumbai + 1 frequency to reach 4 frequencies

With effect from beginning of June 2012:

• Perth + 1 frequency to reach 2 frequencies

With effect from end of October 2012:

• Nairobi + 1 frequency to reach 3 frequencies
• Johannesburg + up to 7 frequencies to reach up to 14 frequencies
• Cape Town + 1 frequency to reach 3 frequencies Antananarivo + 2 frequencies to reach 6 frequencies
• Kuala Lumpur 3 nonstop frequencies

However, rumours still abound that the Mauritian carrier, Air Mauritius (MK), is in for rough next few months. Recently, the Mauritius Ministry of Tourism signed a major strategic partnership with Emirates to bring traffic via Dubai on its 11x-weekly services to the island in a move that will put even greater pressure on the airline. This comes at a time when even the larger European carriers have cut frequencies to Port Louis, given the economic slowdown seen in Europe.

Sources claim that recently the airline sold its headquarters building, its hotel interests as well as its helicopter division in order to remain buoyant for the short term, though for how much longer is uncertain.

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