Air Mauritius H1 Pretax Loss Narrows

Air Mauritius' narrowed its first-half pretax loss to EUR€3.81 million (USD$4.08 million), helped by revenue and passenger growth.

The loss was EUR€6.15 million a year earlier.

The Indian Ocean island is a popular high-end tourist destination, but the economic slowdown in key markets has weighed heavily on tourism.

Total passenger numbers grew by 11.7 percent to 382,000, which helped its performance in the six months to September 30, the airline said in a statement.

Second-quarter pretax profit was EUR€5.8 million compared with EUR€521,000 a year earlier.

This was "the best result achieved in recent years notwithstanding a pay-out of EUR€8.3 million on hedging obligations contracted last year," Chairman Arjoon Sudhoo said.

Revenue rose to EUR€238.86 million in the second quarter from EUR€230.18 million a year earlier.

"The operating environment will clearly remain challenging and will continue to be driven by volatile fuel prices and exchange rates," the airline said.