Air Mauritius battles to stay afloat as administrators face uphill task
The Mauritian flag carrier, Air Mauritius (MK) is increasingly looking likely to to go under as the administrators are facing an uphill task to keep it from liquidation.
Many airlines are on the cusp of total collapse as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Continuing its suspension of scheduled international passenger flights until the end of June, Air Mauritius has now announced potential new staff cuts and further losses. In April, Air Mauritius announced it was entering voluntary administration after determining it would not be able to meet its foreseeable financial obligations. It appointed Sattar Hajee Abdoula and Arvindsingh Gokhool of Grant Thornton as administrators with effect from April 22.
“Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, the Mauritian national carrier wishes to give itself the necessary breathing space and set the conducive conditions for restructuring opportunities in order to stay afloat,” the administrators said.
“At the outset, it is important to highlight that Air Mauritius has not filed for bankruptcy. Our objectives as administrators are to safeguard the interests of the company and more importantly, re-engineer its activities so that it can take off again once this crisis is over,” said Abdoula.
Bloomberg has since reported that the administrators are running out of time to save the airline as cumulative losses are due to reach MUR9.5 billion
