The first flight took off at 4pm on Monday (30 October) with a flight time of 11 hours 30 minutes. Passengers were serenaded by Mauritian pop artist Anne Ga, while the country’s dancing dodo mascot was on hand to join the festivities.
Last September, Air Mauritius temporarily upped the frequency of its UK service to five-times-weekly while extra slots were available. The move to Gatwick has now allowed the carrier to increase its service to daily, although it has also retained its slots at Heathrow.
Chief commercial officer Laurent Recoura said the move would allow the airline to fulfil the potential of its UK route. "The market is absorbing the extra capacity and demand is strong,” he said.
“Our booking forecast for the next three months shows no difference in load factors when you compare our Gatwick numbers with those at Heathrow.”
With Mauritius primarily a leisure destination, he said the trade would be crucial to the success of the route: “I am super pro-trade,” he said. “Our job is to find out what tools the trade needs to support us and deliver them.”
Recoura refused to be drawn on the airline’s future UK expansion plans, saying Gatwick was the focus for now: “For us, Gatwick is London, and the Brighton area too," he said. "We had a really positive response from a recent trade event in Brighton.”
However, he did confirm the airline was holding on to its Heathrow slots by leasing them to another airline. “We will keep that door open,” he said.
Air Mauritius’ only direct non-stop competitor on the route is British Airways, which flies from Gatwick three times weekly from March to November, and five times weekly from November to March.
To differentiate its service, Recoura said Air Mauritius would look to showcase Mauritian culture through its onboard food service. “We will be developing the cuisine more,” he said. “You want to feel like the holiday experience begins as soon as you board the aircraft.”
He also explained how the airline was making strides with sustainability, using the more fuel-efficient Airbus A330 and A350 aircraft on its long-haul routes.
It will also start recycling the glass bottles used onboard, predicting an estimated 70 tonnes will be saved annually and recycled within Mauritius, with uses ranging from asphalt for road building to filters for swimming pools.
