Before travelling | During your journey
Getting around: by plane
 |
Madagascar is a big
sized country and moving around from one corner to
the other only on the “ground” within a short
period of
time might be a titanic task considering the miserable condition of
most road network. Madagascar’s bigger cities are however well connected by air by the flights operated by the national airline “Air Madagascar”. This is the website where you will find all fly schedules: www.airmadagascar.com. |
Prices for air tickets within Madagascar can vary but expect
to pay
around 160 EUR (or 200 US$) for a short flight like from Toamasina to
Sainte Marie and 210 EUR for longer flights like from Tulear to Tana.
Tip: If you purchased your international air ticket with Air Madagascar
you can apply for a 30 % discount on all your
internal flights within the country.
There are numerous agencies in Tana
where you can buy your air tickets. They all normally charge 10 % extra
as commission, but it might be still valuable purchasing your tickets
at a local travel agent, rather than directly from the Air Madagascar
website, which charges further 20 EUR as post fee for sending your
tickets to your home address (Air Madagascar does not still operate
electronic tickets).
Also a local agent is able to obtain pricey ticket fares which
normal Western travel agents from abroad cannot access to.
If you are planning to travel within the high season from July until October you should better buy your tickets well in advance as some journeys which are preferred by most travellers can get pretty full. Be sure to reconfirm in advance every flight: failure to do so will almost automatically cancel your reservation. Be sure to check in well on time. 20 kg of luggage allowance and one hand luggage in the cabin.