Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius) will not be able to resume operations to London Heathrow before April 2027 due to binding slot lease agreements, local outlet Défi Media reported, citing a written response submitted to the parliament by the Mauritian prime minister.
Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam disclosed that the airline's three historical slot pairs at Heathrow are currently leased to Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International), generating annual revenues of USD881,000. Consequently, despite the new government's directive to the airline's management to explore an immediate return to Heathrow, contractual obligations prevent this from happening at least until the lease expires next year.
The flag carrier shifted its operations to London Gatwick in late October 2023, a move that has reportedly led to significantly worse financial results. The parliamentary response detailed a loss of approximately MUR920 million Mauritian rupees (USD19.8 million) on the route between October 2023 and March 2024. For the 2024/25 financial year, losses are projected at MUR1.7 billion (USD36.6 million), bringing the cumulative deficit for the period ending March 2025 to nearly MUR2.6 billion (USD56 million).
Reacting to the poor performance of the route, Air Mauritius reduced its Gatwick frequency from daily to five times weekly from May 2025. According to ch-aviation schedules data, the carrier currently flies an A350-900 on the route and competes directly with British Airways (BA, London Heathrow), which flies 3x weekly using a B777-200ER.
The decision to move to Gatwick was approved by the previous board based on recommendations from CAPA Consulting, which was paid USD928,997 for strategic reviews between 2018 and 2020. The rationale cited limited growth potential at Heathrow, where the carrier was capped at three weekly flights and faced higher operating costs. The Gatwick move allowed for daily frequencies and a commercial agreement with easyJet (London Luton).
