Airline alliance
Vanilla Alliance
|
Launch date
| 21 September 2015
; 8 years ago
(
2015-09-21
)
|
---|
Full members
| 5
|
---|
Destination airports
| 89
|
---|
Destination countries
| 26
|
---|
Annual passengers (
M
)
| 2.3
[1]
|
---|
Fleet size
| 46
|
---|
Management
| Marie-Joseph Male, president
[2]
|
---|
The
Vanilla Alliance
(
French
:
Alliance Vanille
) is an
airline alliance
formed in September 2015. The alliance is the fourth largest in the world as of 2018, trailing
Oneworld
,
Star Alliance
, and
SkyTeam
.
[3]
All of the airlines within the alliance operate in the
Indian Ocean
region and are based in sovereign states that are members of the
Indian Ocean Commission
or
French overseas territories in the Indian Ocean.
History
[
edit
]
In August 2010,
Seychelles
,
Mauritius
,
Madagascar
, the
Comoros
,
Reunion
, and
Mayotte
united under the brand "
Vanilla Islands
" to promote tourism to the entire region.
[4]
[5]
In 2012, the
Maldives
Minister for Tourism was invited to discuss joining as a member of the
Vanilla Islands
tourism body. But after a meeting of ministers in 2016, the organization confirmed that the
Maldives
was not a member of the group. It is noteworthy that there are no direct flights between
Velana International Airport
in the
Maldives
, and any of the member islands. The initial goals of the Vanilla Alliance include increased air service between the islands, more attractive fares, and optimization of
codesharing
.
[6]
[7]
L'Estrac also suggested the creation of a new
low-cost regional airline
to attract more tourists.
[8]
Ultimately, the alliance wishes to increase tourism, trade, and business ties in the region. The founding members are
Air Austral
,
Air Madagascar
,
Air Mauritius
,
Air Seychelles
and
Int'Air Iles
.
In 2012 the
Indian Ocean Commission
(IOC) hosted a conference on the state of air travel within the
Indian Ocean
region.
[4]
[8]
It was determined that the current business model of the airlines was unsustainable and that ticket prices for regional air travel were too high, compared to intra-
Europe
and intra-
Caribbean
fares.
[6]
From 2?3 May 2013, the IOC held another conference in Mauritius on the problems with regional air travel. In January 2014, the Commission published a plea entitled "Wings of the Indian Ocean", in which it called for a joint strategy on regional air transport and noted the economic benefits it would have.
[8]
[9]
The IOC held another conference in July 2014 on tourism and air travel, after which a committee of airline officials and another of civil aviation authorities were created to form the alliance.
[4]
[8]
On 20 May 2015, the Council of Ministers of the IOC met in
Antananarivo
to commit to signing an agreement for the creation of the alliance.
[10]
The airlines were expected to sign it on 18 June, however this date was postponed due to a
strike
at
Air Madagascar
.
[6]
On 21 September 2015, founding airlines
Air Austral
,
Air Madagascar
,
Air Mauritius
,
Air Seychelles
and
Int'Air Iles
signed the pact in Antananarivo. The signing was attended by Secretary General Jean-Claude de l'Estrac of the
Indian Ocean Commission
and Malagasy president
Hery Rajaonarimampianina
.
[1]
[2]
[4]
Member airlines
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Vanilla Alliance
at Wikimedia Commons