Air Austral has confirmed that it will continue to fly between Sydney and Reunion, reducing its twice weekly return service to once weekly from March 24.
The revelation represents a dramatic U-turn on the French carrier’s December announcement that it would withdraw its Reunion-Sydney-Noumea services with the last flight set to depart Sydney on March 20.
But the board has now decided to retain the flights, with the once weekly service to return to twice weekly from May 9.
The French carrier had blamed rising fuel costs and the difficult economic climate for the decision to discontinue the service, which commenced in 2009. Recent figures had also revealed poor load factors on the route.
Air Austral is marking the rescheduled service with the launch of duo fares, a price structure for two people travelling together with the airline. Under the offer, return economy class deals are priced from $814 per person for travel between March 27 and April 29.
