Page 20 - World Airnews Magazine October Edition 2020

AIRSHIP TRAVEL

MAURITIUS TO A FUTURIST FRENCH AIR

RE-OPEN BORDERS TRANSPORT SOLUTION

By Heidi Gibson

he tropical island of Mauritius just a five

Thours fl ying trip from South Africa, has be-
gun a phased re-opening of its borders.
The island welcomes approximately 1.5 million French company is working on providing an air transport
international visitors per year. Asoluti on that has hints of the past but is defi nitely going

Mauritius closed its borders to international visitors to be part of the future - a cargo airship that never has to touch

on 18 March this year. As the Mauritian economy re- the ground.
lies heavily on international tourism, the government Born out of a need to transport wood logs from inaccessible

is under pressure to re-open the borders. areas, a French company called Flying Whales has designed a rigid

Mauritius has recorded an extremely low number shaped airship similar to the Zepplin produced in the late 1800s in

of Covid-19 infections and deaths. The island state Germany.

has used an effective lockdown to gain a firm grip on Measuring roughly the length of two Airbus A380s, the LCA60T

the pandemic. To date there are have been only 356 is filled with helium used as a lifting gas and powered by hybrid

infections and 10 deaths recorded in Mauritius. electrical propulsion. The company is actively considering ways

to improve its carbon foot print in all aspects of the business. And
REPATRIATION FLIGHTS FOR while the design might still undergo slight changes in essence it will

MAURITIAN NATIONALS be an air cargo aircraft of the future.

Mauritian nationals have been unable to return to “After Flying Whales exhibited at the Paris international air show

Mauritius for many months. During the first phase of the Le Bourget in the same hall just behind giants like Dassault and

border re-opening process, Mauritian citizens will be Safran, people really started taking us seriously. They could see
repatriated. that we are not a bunch of crazy people working from their garage

Repatriation flights began in September with or a little start-up company. Our headquarters are in Suresnes near

compulsory two-week quarantine, in state-managed Paris and we employ over 130 people,” said marketing manager

quarantine centres, a requirement for all returning Pierre-Yves Fouillen
passengers. Started in 2012 by founder and CEO Sébastien Bougon the idea

RESUMPTION OF SCHEDULED FLIGHTS TO for the aircraft had its beginnings in finding a solution to the need

for the French national forestry agency or Office Nationale des

MAURITIUS Forêts to source wood from inaccessible locations.

The second phase began this month with the resump- The next year the company began operational, economic and

tion of scheduled flights to the island. Mauritius said it technical assessments and strategic partnerships with governmen-

would reopen international borders and allow tourists tal organisations and this later led to public financing by the French

from a predetermined list of countries. At the time of Public Investment Bank.

going to press this had yet been released. Then for the next three years the company worked on and came
International visitors are now able to make online up with the first conceptual design, looked at the finances and a set

reservations for flights and accommodation for dates up a large consortium of aerospace and industrial players.

beyond 1 October. Mauritian nationals, residents and nesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport and Mauritius, Wind- In 2017 interested players began to make their commitments and

work permit holders will however receive priority when making hoek, and Zanzibar. They hope to be able to secure three weekly the company received funding from the Chinese company - Avia-
bookings.

flights for all of these destinations and will know by October tion Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) who were also looking for

COMPLETE REOPENING OF BORDERS whether their applications have been approved. a similar solution. Two years later they were joined by the French

The third phase involving the complete re-opening of Mauritius’ Kirby Gordon, FlySafair’s chief marketing officer, said the three Canadian state of Quebec who were looking to provide a transport
solution for isolated communities in Quebec and Canada.

borders is to be based on the evolution of the virus. new routes have been in the pipeline for a while, but now with the

Today these entities form part of the shareholding of the com-

Since almost 20% of the island’s workforce is engaged in the airline industry on its knees and FlySafair operating at a fraction of pany.
its previous capacity, new opportunities are urgently needed.

tourism sector, it is essential for the economy to be open to tour- Then Région Nouvelle Aquitaine near Bordeaux signed an agree-
ists as soon as possible. AIRLINE’S TRANSFORMATION OF AIRCRAFT AND ment with Flying Whales and the company really began to expand.
AIRLINES FLYING TO MAURITIUS SYSTEMS “Other companies began to talk to us, such as wind turbine man-

The airlines which are permitted to operate direct flights between If the routes are approved by the department of transport’s ufacturers, interested in the LCA60T solution to transport blades,

international air services council, the airline would have a lot of
Mauritius and South Africa include Air Mauritius, South African or transmission system operators to service high voltage electrical

Airways and Comair’s British Airways. work to do to get ready for international travel. Aircraft would towers. We also thought that the LCA60T could be used for human-

have to be re-equipped for long-haul flights, a presence would

With all three of these carriers currently being under business have to be established in the various international departure halls itarian aid and disaster relief operations,” said Fouillen.

rescue processes, it remains to be seen how South Africans will and the technology for processing international passport and visa The airship has an important environmental component. Where

reach this preferred island destination. information would have to be updated. companies would normally have to look at building a road to trans-

With the expected move to lockdown level 1 travel to regional desti- Gordon said the launch of the new routes would not only depend port logs, thus leading to secondary problems like poaching and

nations such as Mauritius in the near future might be allowed. on the approval by the department of transport’s international air deforestation as local communities gain access - the LCA60Ts can

Meanwhile South African airline FlySafair has applied to operate services council, but also the recovery of the domestic market. transport the cargo by air. The airship requires very little infra-

flights between the two countries. He said the company would only be in a position to look at structure like runways. With a payload of 60 tonnes that can be

transported in underslings or in the hold - companies will find this

The airline company has applied for rights to fly between Johan- launching the new routes in 2021 at the earliest. Q solution quite enticing. Q

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