Madagascar Airline Loses 2 Mln Dollars in 2006

Madagascar airline loses 2 mln dollars in 2006

ANTANANARIVO, July 13 (Xinhua) — Madagascar national airline, Air Madagascar, lost 2 million U.S. dollars in the year 2006 due mainly to the increase of oil price.

The loss was made despite of active promotion by the airline and increase of passengers and cargoes, Le Quotidien, a French- language daily, reported on Friday.

Air Madagascar received 1.6 million U.S. dollars for ticket sales, an increase of 4.4 percent compared to that in the previous year while the number of passengers went up by 3 percent, totaling 577,003 last year.

The airline carried 4,322 tons of cargoes in 2006, an increase of 14.4 percent compared to that in 2005, said Le Quotidien, or news daily in English.

The rise of oil price caused a heavy expense by the airline and the maintenance of a plane engine cost a total amount of 12.6 million U.S. dollars in 2006, the daily said.

Air Madagascar now runs a fleet of 12 airplanes including 2 Boeing 767-300ER and Boeing 737-300 with 47 destinations with 31 domestic.

The airline has failed to change the balance of its accounts though it made tremendous efforts to promote itself both at home and abroad and to improve its service.

The national airline, which operates services to Europe, Asia and neighboring African and Indian Ocean island cities, has been in deficit situation since the year 2001 and hoped to make profit this year.

The airline is controlled by the Madagascan government with an ownership of 90.6 percent and the remaining is owned by the National Participation Society, a government-owned investment organization (4.85 percent), Air France (3.17 percent), Insurance Ny Havana, a national insurance company of the country (0.62 percent) and its employees (0.77 percent).

(c) 2007 Xinhua News Agency – CEIS. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.