Flying to Madagascar

General Information

Madagascar has around sixty airports, half of which have regular commercial traffic. Among these, Antananarivo and five or six others (Tamatave, Mahajanga, Nosy Be...) have international activity, mostly limited to Réunion and Mayotte. Logically, the capital's airport handles the most traffic and serves as the base for the national airline, Air Madagascar.

Types of Flights

Malagasy Airlines

Madagascar has only two regular commercial carriers. Air Madagascar is the national airline, with a network of about 35 cities served domestically and internationally. Alongside it, after a long monopoly, Madagasikara Airways has been operating since 2015, offering a few domestic flights.

Charters, Scheduled Flights, Low-Cost, Promotions, and Special Offers

Apart from occasional flights to Nosy Be and its (rare) European charters, the island only receives scheduled flights. As for genuine promotions and special offers, they are not particularly numerous.

From France

Departing from Mainland France

Orly (with Corsair) and Roissy (Air France + Air Madagascar) are directly connected to Madagascar (only Antananarivo) with a flight time of around 11 hours. Prices: 750 to 1,150 €.

Marseille has had a direct Air Madagascar route to the Malagasy capital and Nosy Be for some time. For other cities, you will need to connect through Paris first.

Flights with Connections

Among the available options, Air Austral (via Réunion) or, secondarily, Kenya Airways (via Nairobi) are generally offered from mainland France. Note that some Corsair flights also have stopovers, and an Air Austral ticket from mainland France to Madagascar via Réunion will always be much cheaper than two separate tickets (mainland France to Réunion + Réunion to Madagascar).

Departing from Réunion and Mayotte

Réunion logically offers a good range of flights to Madagascar. You can find flights to Antananarivo (Air Austral + Air Madagascar), Antsiranana (Air Madagascar), Nosy Be (Air Austral + Air Madagascar), Sainte-Marie (Air Madagascar), and Tamatave (Air Austral).

As for Mayotte, there are flights to Antananarivo (Air Madagascar), Antsiranana (Air Madagascar + Ewa Air), Majunga (Air Austral + Air Madagascar + Ewa Air), and Nosy Be (Air Austral + Ewa Air).

However, note that flights from these two islands to Madagascar are not necessarily the most economical. If you are arriving from mainland France and want to visit one or both of these overseas departments, it may be better to use the "Pass Îles Vanille" (Vanilla Islands Pass) offered by Air Austral, which includes Madagascar.

From Another Country

There are no direct flights from Belgium, Switzerland, or Canada. You will need to take a connecting flight, typically via Paris.

Apart from the capital, Tana, international traffic is almost exclusively limited to Réunion and Mayotte. Otherwise, from Antananarivo, you can also find flights to the Comoros (Air Madagascar), Johannesburg (Airlink + Air Madagascar), Mauritius (Air Madagascar + Air Mauritius), Nairobi (Kenya Airways), and the Seychelles (Air Seychelles). Bangkok and Guangzhou (China) also have Air Madagascar routes, as does Istanbul with Turkish Airlines (via Mauritius) since late 2015.