Why does Air Madagascar need competition?

Believe it or not, Air Madagascar had the most dense domestic network flights in the world. But little by little, Air Madagascar lost some altitude.

Being the sole airline to have the licence to serve the domestic network in Madagascar, the company took advantage of that position to impose itself. I am not exactly sure why they are the only company to have the right to occupy the large island’s donestic air space: Is there a lack of interest from other small companies? Or is it because the state owned company does not allow anybody to enter the competition through a set of hard to climb barriers? I tend to opt for that last reason.

Sometimes, I would say OK to monopolies but when the dominant company fails to deliver , there is something fundamentaly wrong here.

In the past couple of weeks, Air Madagascar has been warned by several bodies over its lack of rigor when it comes to the maintenance of its aircrafts. The Boeing 767 of the company was held in Paris and banned to fly for 48 hours because some part was not fitted correctly.
Also, the domestic flights are being severely disrupted. Flights are canceled leaving travellers and overseas tourists stranded and unable to continue their tours.
Given the situation, tour operators and the tourism board have held crisis meetings to find some solutions and save the upcoming high season.

Aircraft maintenance and flight security is the most important thing. If Air Madagascar fails to conform to the severe standards of the airline industry, the effects could be disastrous for the whole tourism value chain. It would open the way to all foreign companies such as Air France, Corsair, Airlink, Air Mauritius to serve the long haul market. And most importantly, no one would be left to serve the domestic market beside private charter companies.

Beside that, the customer service at Air Madagascar needs to be drastically improved. The personel do not seem to take pleasure into turning a regular customer into a happy customer. More than once, I met several passengers who fell victim of this below the standards service.

Air Madagascar’s board and management should know that the potential is there. They should not sleep on their laurels fix these issues. It’s not too late to have me ( and many of your customers) back on one of their seats.

Maybe it’s time to allow other small (low-cost) companies to shake up the market?

Haja Nirina is a frequent flyer and has reached Gold status levels with Star Alliance ( United airlines, Air Canada) and One world alliance ( American Airlines) . He has flown long hauls and domestic flights on all continents.