Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport
Aéroport international Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

The old terminal
IATA: MRUICAO: FIMP
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner/Operator Airports of Mauritius Co. Ltd.
Location Plaine Magnien
Hub for Air Mauritius
Elevation AMSL 57 m / 186 ft
Coordinates 20°25′48.10″S 57°40′58.88″E / 20.4300278°S 57.6830222°E / -20.4300278; 57.6830222Coordinates: 20°25′48.10″S 57°40′58.88″E / 20.4300278°S 57.6830222°E / -20.4300278; 57.6830222
Website mauritius-airport.atol.aero
Map
Location in Mauritius
MRU
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
14/32 3,370 11,056 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 2,916,411[1]

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (IATA: MRU, ICAO: FIMP), SSR Airport, is the main international airport in Mauritius. It is located 26 nautical miles (48 km) southeast of the capital city of Port Louis. The airport was previously known as the Plaisance Airport, it was renamed in memory of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. The airport, set to become a regional hub, has direct flights to several destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe and is home to the country's national airline Air Mauritius.

Airports of Mauritius Co. Ltd (AML) is the owner and operator of the airport, the Government of Mauritius is the major shareholder of AML. Airport Terminal Operations Ltd (ATOL) is responsible for the design, building and operation of the new terminal building.[2]

History

In 1942, when Mauritius was a Crown colony, the government decided to build a small airport at Plaine Magnien near Mahébourg. The airport was used to import products from the United Kingdom and its colonies, as well as for exports. The airport was used as a military base for the Royal Air Force during World War II. The operations of the civil airport started just after the Second World War which gave a boost to the Mauritian economy.[3]

The first flight to Rodrigues island was made on 10 September 1972, an Air Mauritius flight from Plaisance airport to the Plaine Corail Airport (now Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport) at Rodrigues using Twin Otter(3B-NAB). Later the twin otters were replaced by ATR 42-300 and ATR 42-500 twin turboprops.

Later in 1986, infrastructure works were undertaken to accommodate larger aircraft. Thus, a new terminal was built including aerobridges to meet the expected increase in traffic growth, and a car park attached to the new building and customs service for international routes. The new terminal consisted of two floors and could accommodate up to four aircraft simultaneously via aerobridges.

Facilities

A new passenger terminal was inaugurated on 30 August 2013, and became fully operational in September 2013.[4] The structure of the New Airport Terminal is designed after the "Traveller's palm", a tropical plant that grows on Mauritius. It is connected to the existing terminal (scheduled for refurbishment beginning in 2014) and has a capacity of 4 million passengers.

The new terminal, which cost US$306 million, is in line with the "Maurice Ile Durable" concept. Environmental and ecological aspects taken into consideration include using solar energy collected by photovoltaic cells, recovering rain water, integrating nature to the heart of the building, and including thermo-insulated facades to reduce heat gain.[5] The terminal covers an area of 57,000 square meters and is equipped with five boarding gates with aerobridges, including one compatible with the large Airbus A380, check-in desks for departing passengers, immigration counters, and baggage carousels.[6]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Air Austral Saint-Denis de la Réunion, Saint-Pierre de la Réunion
Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Air Madagascar Antananarivo
Air Mauritius Antananarivo, Bangalore, Beijing-Capital, Cape Town, Chengdu, Chennai, Dar es Salaam [7] Delhi, Durban, Guangzhou (begins 12 July 2016),[8] Hong Kong, Johannesburg-OR Tambo, Kuala Lumpur–International, London-Heathrow, Maputo,[9] Mumbai, Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Perth, Rodrigues, Saint-Denis de la Réunion, Saint-Pierre de la Réunion, Shanghai-Pudong, Singapore
Air Seychelles Mahé
Austrian Airlines Seasonal: Vienna[10]
British Airways London-Gatwick
Comair Johannesburg-OR Tambo
Condor Frankfurt
Seasonal: Munich
Corsair International Paris-Orly
Edelweiss Air Zurich (begins 1 October 2016)[11]
Emirates Dubai-International
Eurowings
operated by SunExpress Deutschland
Cologne/Bonn [12]
LOT Polish Airlines Seasonal charter: Warsaw–Chopin (begins 31 October 2016)
Lufthansa
operated by Lufthansa CityLine
Seasonal: Frankfurt[13]
Mahan AirSeasonal: Tehran-Imam Khomeini[14]
Meridiana Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino
Neos Air Seasonal: Milan-Malpensa
South African Airways Johannesburg-OR Tambo
TAROMSeasonal: Bucharest
Thomson Airways Charter: London-Gatwick, Manchester (begins 10 November 2016)
TUI Airlines Netherlands Seasonal charter: Amsterdam, Warsaw
TUIfly Nordic operated by Thomson Airways Seasonal charter: Helsinki, Stockholm-Arlanda, Copenhagen
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk

Note 1: Turkish Airlines's flight from Istanbul to Mauritius continue on to Antananarivo. However, Turkish Airlines does not have traffic rights to transport passengers solely from Mauritius and Antananarivo.

See also

References

External links

Media related to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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