Air access is very much in the? air these days. Mauritius has just reached a new bilateral agreement with France. No more shall Air Mauritius and Air France monopolise one of the most lucrative routes to Europe.

The business community is rife with speculation: who is the third player? The Quai D?Orsay-backed German low-cost flyer, Corsair? Or can Star Airline still sneak in? No charter, says Prime Minister Paul Bérenger, implicitly ruling out Star. But in practice, do not most charter companies run scheduled flights as well? Why waste time on semantics?

The whole French episode raises a rather scary question: does Mauritius have an agenda of her own as regards air access? Does she have a clue on how to reconcile tourism expansion with air access? It would seem not. Europe is the island?s major tourist bank. For the past ten years, it has been working on a common air access policy. State monopolies within the European Union have been ruled out. Shortly, the EU will negotiate landing rights collectively.

Yet, Mauritius has, so far, no comprehensive plan spelling out just how she intends to hold her own against the expected pro-liberalisation pressure. The first pressure waves are already washing our shores.

Mauritius is reduced to waiting for its European partners to cash in the opportunities of a more liberalised environment. It thus lies open to lobbies of all kinds. One would have expected it to devise ways of bargaining her collaboration.

So far, air access to the island has been more or less linked to expansion in the tourist sector. But what has worked until now may no longer apply. There is a new urgency to design a tailor-made air access policy. The more so, since growth targets have now been set out for the tourist industry. The expansion of hotel capacity is being actively encouraged. At length, some 4 000 bed places will be added. Of course, all the newly created capacity will not become available at one go. But that does not lessen the pressure to secure ways of increasing tourist arrivals substantially.

The Mauritian approach to air access has thus far been centred around Air Mauritius. But can the national carrier meet the future challenges alone? A more comprehensive approach is required. What Air Mauritius can or cannot do must not cripple future actions. The impact of liberalisation, controlled or not, on the company must be considered.

However, it must not be a cause for bias against competitors if Air Mauritius is freed from the shackles of national interest and allowed to operate on a strictly commercial basis? The issue is no doubt complex. But should we dilly-dally any further?