• Air Mauritius posted a net profit of MUR 252.7m in Q1 FY2025/26, its best first-quarter result in nine years.
• The airline faced 24 AOG incidents, including an eight-week A330neo grounding, adding MUR 139.2m in disruption costs.
• Talks continue on a strategic partnership, with Qatar Airways seen as a contender, as the carrier targets break-even this fiscal year.

Air Mauritius started its 2025/2026 financial year with the strongest first-quarter results in nearly a decade, posting a net profit of 252.7 million rupees (about 5.4 million US dollars) for the three months ending June 30, 2025. The performance represents a significant turnaround from the 611.8 million rupee loss recorded during the same April-to-June period last year and is already being praised in Port Louis as evidence that the restructuring plan launched by the new board in January is gaining momentum.

Passenger revenue increased to 6 billion rupees, driven by slightly higher traffic and improved seat utilization, while cash on hand rose to 2.83 billion rupees and the accumulated shareholder deficit was reduced by more than half. However, the numbers only tell part of the story. Behind the improved balance sheet, the carrier is dealing with an unusually high number of Aircraft-on-Ground events that have strained daily operations and diminished some of the recent profitability.

Over the 13-week quarter, the airline recorded 24 separate AOG incidents, with the most disruptive being an eight-week grounding of one of its two Airbus A330-900neo wide-bodies. The extended absence of this long-haul aircraft forced last-minute schedule adjustments, increasing disruption-related costs to 139.2 million rupees. Engineers also continue to address the lingering effects of long-term storage during the pandemic, including a backlog of obsolete spares reported earlier this year totaling approximately 442 million rupees, as well as turnaround times for heavy checks in Europe that frequently exceed expectations.

Management insists that the technical headaches, while painful, have not derailed the broader recovery timeline. A recently expanded support agreement with Airbus (Fleet Technical Management services) aims to improve operational efficiency and provide 24/7 engineering support. The company says it has recruited dozens of technical staff — including 66 local technicians, according to recent interviews, along with renewed contracts for foreign experts and senior engineers — to strengthen the in-house workforce.

Meanwhile, the board is speeding up talks to bring in a strategic partner, with Qatar Airways seen inside the company as a credible contender. Discussions remain exploratory. Chairman Kishore Beegoo states the goal is to secure a partnership that would help shield the airline from the capital-heavy risks of modern wide-body operations while still enabling it to reach break-even for the full 2025/2026 fiscal year and achieve sustained profitability the following year.

Idriss Linge