The Independent of Singapore yesterday reported that Mauritian Tourism Minister Anil Gayan had explained in the Parliament there that the airline made the decision as it could hardly achieve its target.
“It would appear that the decision of AirAsia X to suspend its operations to Mauritius was a purely commercial one being given that it could hardly achieve its target of bringing 50,000 tourists to Mauritius in the first year of operation,” the news portal quoted Gayan as saying.
Gayan was replying to a private notice question on the issue.
The portal noted that AirAsia X, the sister company of AirAsia, had announced that its surrender of the route was due to operational restructuring.
The Mauritius-Kuala Lumpur connection was AirAsia X’s only direct link to the African continent.
The company had announced last month of the withdrawal effective March 25 this year.
Panapress, a pan-African news agency, quoted Arik De, chief commercial head of AirAsia X as saying that the decision to end flights to Mauritius was based on the need to deploy capacity to its strongest markets.
“The suspension of the Mauritius route is a part of the company’s big plan in network restructuring aimed at improving operational efficiencies in terms of aircraft utilizations,” Arik was quoted as saying.
“It is also to accelerate capacity growth in the AirAsia X key markets of Australia, China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea,” he added.
AirAsia X had started its flights between Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 and Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in Mauritius on October 5 last year.
The other airline having a direct connection between the two countries is Air Mauritius.
According to The Independent, AirAsia X has not commented on rumours that it fell under pressure from Air Mauritius and certain groups not in favour of a Malaysian airline landing in Mauritius.
Gayan said AirAsia X had notified Airports of Mauritius Ltd on Feb 13 of its decision to suspend its flights to and from Mauritius, and wind down its operations due to a network restructuring exercise.
He also said figures from the Mauritian Passport and Immigration Office showed that there were 21,161 tourists brought by AirAsia X to Mauritius from Oct 5 to March 24. Of these, 9,049 were tourists were from Asian countries.
The Independent report said Mauritian citizens have been “disgusted” by “low quality of services” from Air Mauritius and its exorbitantly priced tickets, and have blamed Air Mauritius’ intervention as part of the reason for AirAsia abandoning the route.
It also cited sources as blaming local airline lobbyists as the reason that might have frustrated AirAsia X.