A quelque chose malheur est bon by GDL

The "BOMB" scare which happened on MK 943 last Wednesday has been the talk of the town and non stopping. I have been flooded ever since by phone calls, sms and emails.
While it was a serous matter and no joke, never in the history of Air Mauritius has the carrier been subject to  so much publicity. One can say it was bad publicity but as marketers tend to say,  any publicity is good publicity.

Indeed I concur that it was a "good" publicity,  not only for Air Mauritius, but also for Mauritius as well. Never has Air Mauritius or the MTPA been able to reach the entire Australian market during their many many years of presence in Australia.(and around the world).

I explain: from the moment the news broke out, all the media, traditional, new and social, in Australia and around the world reported the news. A world wide audience heard the word "Mauritius." and discovered it.
In Australia alone, some 27 million now know where  Mauritius is and that there is an airline with flights Sydney, Melbourne, Perth if they want to visit the tourist paradise of the Indian Ocean.
The other good publicity was, how the crew handled the matter so professionally. At the end of the day, it was only a can of soft drinks. This reassured passengers of the safety image that Air Mauritius has always projected, " Passengers' safety come first".

"Sadly" this came at a time when Air Mauritius is pulling out of Melbourne, a city which has been loyal to the airline and filling its planes. Even in this precarious time there were 181 passengers on board MK while Air Austral for example, is flying near empty from Sydney.

I said earlier  that I received many communications  from Mauritians of Australia and overseas.
While some were very concerned, others were  trying to find out more, some were even trying to play Inspector Colombo  like:
When and where exactly was the can of soft drinks? Was it full or empty? Was the word bomb stuck to the can or was it hand written on it ? What type of pen was used ?
Someone even joked  : C'etait une bombe "alerte" !
One funny comment went " Mo crawr zot ti pe ecrir BOMBLI" and did not have time for the "LI".  A passenger might have stuck some of these badly smelt commodity in a can of soft drink. It could have been from the previous flight Mauritius- Australia. As Mauritians bring in achards in Australia, zot osi ti pe apporte Bomli.!!!

These are the more serious comments I received :

 - C'est une mise en scene.

- This cannot come from any passenger, No way!

- A scenario to portray  Australia is bad.

- Another excuse from MK to pull out of Australia.

- It is politically motivated by Port Louis to blame/penalise the Creoles of Australia.

- This exemplifies the tension that exists between the parties at MK.

- Someone somewhere want to take a revenge on Air Mauritius.

Anyway, it was a day to be remembered for Air Mauritius, a good souvenir of Australia.
But as said earlier never had Air Mauritius received so much  exposure.

GDL.