Megh Pillay: "We hope all agreements with Air Mauritius will be renegotiated"

Megh Pillay: "We hope all agreements with Air Mauritius will be renegotiated"
Patrick Hilbert
Monday, 27/10/2025 - 11:30

The national airline, Air Mauritius, is at a strategic crossroads. Its bilateral agreement with Emirates, renewed last May, limits its ability to form partnerships with other carriers at a time when demand for air travel is soaring. Preliminary discussions with Turkish Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines highlight the urgent need for a review, advocated by authorities to enhance the country's connectivity and economy.

Air Mauritius faces high passenger demand with opportunities in underserved regions. However, the exclusivity agreement signed in 2016 and renewed last May with the Emirati airline hampers collaboration with competitors in the Middle East, including Turkish Airlines. This pact allows Emirates to operate multiple flights daily to Dubai (three starting December 1), while forbidding the Mauritian airline from any code-sharing on these routes outside of Emirates, as well as from entering into partnerships or alliances with any other airlines in the Middle East/North Africa region.

As a result, Turkish Airlines, which already operates five weekly flights from Istanbul, monopolizes the profits from its two additional flights granted until October 2026, without Port-Louis reaping any commercial benefits.

Megh Pillay, the executive chairman of Airport Holdings Ltd (AHL), the owner of Air Mauritius and Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, believes it’s time to reassess certain arrangements. "Improving air connectivity will open up significant opportunities for economic development," he states in an interview with Défi Quotidien.

Owned by the Mauritian state, AHL manages airport infrastructure and oversees the national airline's strategy, which emerged from a painful restructuring in 2021. For Megh Pillay, opening the skies is a priority. "AHL is certainly in favor of partnerships. We want the market to open," he insists.

"Air Mauritius has extraordinary demand but lacks sufficient fleet capacity to meet it," observes Megh Pillay. In this deadlock, strategic alliances emerge as a lifeline. This does not necessarily mean a foreign airline investing in Air Mauritius, as "before getting there, Air Mauritius must be prepared," meaning improving its financial situation. Recently, Qatar Airways has been mentioned as a potential partner for the national airline.

On the other hand, Megh Pillay advances, "a strategic alliance is necessary because Air Mauritius needs it: it currently does not have sufficient fleet capacity. As long as this limitation persists, partnerships with other airlines remain essential, not only for Air Mauritius's financial health but also for the country's economy."

Renegotiating the agreement with Emirates appears to be a first step. Concluded in 2016 and extended in May 2024 until 2031, it grants the Emirati airline privileged access to the Mauritian market — at the cost of an exclusivity that frustrates many.

Megh Pillay advocates for a thorough review: "We hope all agreements with Air Mauritius will be renegotiated in light of the changes in the aviation sector, both in Mauritius and globally. All agreements must be reassessed." According to him, this openness would allow "doors to be opened for collaboration with Qatar Airways and others who have expressed interest in Mauritius, such as Etihad, Ethiopian Airlines, and others." Informal conversations have reportedly already begun.

Code-share

Last week, Megh Pillay met with representatives from Turkish Airlines. "The message I conveyed to them is that eventually, negotiations with Air Mauritius will be necessary, as once the government changes its policy regarding Emirates, we can discuss with them," he reports. The Turkish airline, which already operates five flights per week to Mauritius, benefits from two additional frequencies until October 2026. These extra flights require long-term planning: "They need to know up to ten months in advance if they can keep them, to be able to market them," Megh Pillay clarifies.

Without code-sharing, Air Mauritius is excluded from these routes, allowing Turkish Airlines to capture estimated revenues of several million dollars annually, according to industry analysts. "Currently, Air Mauritius does not have a code-share with Turkish Airlines and therefore does not operate on these routes, due to the agreement with Emirates that prevents it from forming partnerships with other Middle Eastern carriers, including Turkish Airlines," explains the executive chairman of AHL. Consequently, Turkish Airlines alone enjoys the profits from the flights it operates to Mauritius.

Meanwhile, a recent meeting with Ethiopian Airlines, an expanding African operator, reportedly explored similar avenues. The hub in Addis Ababa could provide connections to East Africa, a market still under-exploited by Mauritius.

Economically, the stakes are high: tourism accounts for about 20% of Mauritius's GDP, with 1.4 million visitors expected in 2025. It remains to be seen how Emirates will react, as it considers Mauritius a strategic pivot for its hub.