Madagaskar Internal Flights

[Gregorypeck]

My daughter's flying to Madgaskar in March for a Scuba diving holiday. She can find loads of flights to the capital (Antananarivo), but for flights on to Tulear (TLE), I've looked high and low for flight times. There are certainly flights available, but as for finding the departure and arrival times (and return) I'm at a loss. Anybody been there recently who might have any idea?

[Kenty]

Is there anything from Jo'burg?

[ollie j]

From 5 mins googling, Air Madagascar is the only airline that flies to Toliara (Tulear).

And from navigating the Air Madagascar website (all in French, ask me if you need help), there are indeed return flights to Antananarivo.

To obtain flying times, you must go 3 stages through the search progress. As a case study, I selected return for dates 11-25 march between Antan and Toliara.
Details:

Aller : Antananarivo-Tulear
lun., 11 mars
LIBERTALIA
SAPHIR
08:20 Antananarivo (TNR)
11:00 Tulear (TLE)
Air Madagascar(MD714)
Air Madagascar(MD733)
2h40min1
Retour : Tulear - Antananarivo
lun., 25 mars
LIBERTALIA
SAPHIR
11:35 Tulear (TLE)
12:45 Antananarivo (TNR)
Air Madagascar(MD713)
1h10min0


Price for economy return is EUR410(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Judging by the flight time, the outbound flight is in 2 legs.

Some small words of advice:
From having travelled a lot on mainland Africa (aged 18-19), I would suggest taking over land transport as it's a great way to see the country. Factor in a couple of nights somewhere different and it'll still come to nowhere near EUR410 for the return unless she buys the car she travels in and buys the guest house she stays in.

Remember flying times for diving. Another cheap(er) option could be to fly from Antan to Toliara and then overland transport back. Therefore no issues with diving then flying and will also cut transport price in half.

PM me if you'd like help navigating the Air Madagascar website in French.


P.s: I have never been to Madagascar but am simply applying logic from having visited other African countries. Have read A LOT on pretty much everywhere in Africa - mainland and islands so hopefully can be of some help.

[Vipers]

Oldie, good job you mentioned flying after diving, very important. You don't need an episode of DCI at 35,000 ft.

[ollie j]

Not a diver myself but my friend dived in Mozambique when we were there. The nearest equalising chamber thing was in Durban so I guess that's the closest to Madagascar too...

The internal flight will not fly at a high enough altitude to cause issues but I am making the assumption the OP's daughter does not live on Madagascar and will therefore be getting a long haul flight at "unsafe after diving" altitude.

[Puggit]

Ollie j - didn't you see "World's most dangerous roads"? I can't see overland being easy!

[Amateurish]

"Mini-buses are the cheapest way to get to Toliara. In Tana you can catch them at the Fasan-karana taxi brousse station. They leave around 9AM and 4PM. They cost 35,000 Ariary and take 18 - 24 hours to get to Toliara depending on the quality of the car and the number of times you break down."

From wiki

[ollie j]

Puggit, when is any overland route in Africa easy?

I haven't seen that episode sadly but after having watched others, I'd take the road

[Gregorypeck]

ollie j said:

Remember flying times for diving. Another cheap(er) option could be to fly from Antan to Toliara and then overland transport back. Therefore no issues with diving then flying and will also cut transport price in half.

Thanks for the advice. We finally managed to find our way round the Air Madagascar website. She's flying to Tulear, being picked up by the diving company and then taking advantage of their option to travel overland back to Antanarivo. She's an experienced diver, so is aware of the flying restrictions