South African Airways and Air Mauritius have concluded an agreement that will see a broadening of its codeshare agreement to enhance greater connectivity between the continent, South Africa, Mauritius and other inter-continental routes. From 1 July 2015 both airlines will sell freely on one another’s networks with increased availability on its code-shared trunk route between Johannesburg and Mauritius. SAA this year also celebrates half a century of operations between the two countries.

“The broadening of our relationship with Air Mauritius follows growing traffic between our two countries not only as a consequence of tourism, but is also concomitant to growing trade between the markets,” says SAA Acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout. Connectivity between SAA’s continental routes as regional feeders for traffic in and outbound from Mauritius is also enhanced. “Cross network sales will improve access to markets in a further move to support trade and tourism,” adds Bezuidenhout. Late last year SAA added an additional frequency to Mauritius as demand continues its upward trend.

SAA will actively market Mauritius as a leisure destination in other African markets. “Demand indicators have shown a growing number of passenger volumes connecting through Johannesburg, originating on the continent. By offering increased ease of connectivity onto the trunk codeshare route operated by SAA and Air Mauritius we expect sustained growth in traffic.” Mauritius has remained an important destination for SAA throughout its history and remains one of the fastest growing economies on the continent with consistent demand-side growth in both business and leisure travel.