Vanilla Alliance member airlines

About Vanilla Alliance

The Vanilla Alliance is a regional airline alliance for the Indian Ocean. It was signed in Antananarivo, Madagascar, on 21 September 2015 by carriers based in the region of the Indian Ocean Commission, and it takes its name from the 'Vanilla Islands' tourism brand that groups Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles, the Comoros and Mayotte. Its founding members were Air Austral, Air Madagascar, Air Mauritius, Air Seychelles and Int'Air Iles. Although small - it counts four full members and serves around 89 airports in 26 countries - it is recognised as the fourth-largest airline alliance in the world, behind Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam.

The alliance was created to solve a specific regional problem. Fares for travel between the Indian Ocean islands had historically been high and connections limited compared with intra-European or intra-Caribbean routes, which held back tourism and trade. Rather than replicating the global loyalty schemes of the big three, the Vanilla Alliance focuses on practical regional cooperation: more frequent inter-island services, more attractive and better-coordinated fares, aligned schedules and expanded codesharing that makes it easier to hop between the islands on a single journey.

The wider ambition is to promote the Indian Ocean as a single, connected destination and to strengthen tourism, trade and business ties across its member states. By pooling their networks, the carriers aim to give visitors easier multi-island itineraries and to support the economies of some of the region's smaller island nations. The alliance grew out of work led by the Indian Ocean Commission on regional air connectivity, and it remains focused on that shared goal of a better-linked Indian Ocean.