Madagascar Airlines

When you think of Madagascar, you think of lemurs, baobabs and vanilla – hardly of aircraft. Yet the island’s national airline has a surprisingly long history: under the name Air Madagascar it flew Boeing 707s to Paris, operated a single jumbo combi and later Airbus A340s. Little of that remains today. Madagascar Airlines flies a small ATR fleet – and that is exactly what makes every sighting something special.

Madagascar Airlines at a glance

Madagascar Airlines is the national airline of Madagascar, headquartered in the capital Antananarivo. Its hub is Antananarivo-Ivato Airport (IATA code TNR). From there it flies to domestic destinations – on an island larger than France whose roads reach many regions only slowly. Here the airplane is often the only practical means of transport.

The name is relatively new, the airline behind it is not. Madagascar Airlines is the continuation of Air Madagascar, which had carried this name since 1962, and its domestic subsidiary Tsaradia. Both were in restructuring proceedings. In April 2023, Madagascar Airlines took over flight operations with its own air operator certificate. The codes stayed the same: IATA MD, ICAO MGY.

The airline is majority state-owned. It does not belong to a global alliance, but it is a founding member of the Vanilla Alliance: a group of Indian Ocean airlines founded in 2015 that also includes Air Austral, Air Mauritius and Air Seychelles.

Codes and registration

• IATA code MD: appears in the flight number, so on departure boards, tickets and in schedules.
• ICAO code MGY: shows up in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Registration 5R-: Madagascar’s nationality mark. Every aircraft of the airline carries it on the fuselage, followed by three letters.

The prefix 5R- is almost as telling for spotters as the logo. Because the fleet is so small, it is worth noting individual registrations: with a handful of aircraft you have the active fleet together quickly – ideal if you collect registrations. The guide Understanding aircraft registrations explains how registrations are built in general and why every country has its own prefix.

From Madair to Madagascar Airlines: the history

The roots go back to 1947. Back then the French company TAI (Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux) built a domestic network in Madagascar that was meant to feed its own flights and those of Air France. The first aircraft were two Douglas DC-3s and six de Havilland Dragon Rapides.

After independence, the airline was reorganized in 1961 – with the Malagasy state, Air France and TAI as owners. It was initially called Madair and took over around 58 destinations in the country in early 1962. Because the name did not go over well, it was renamed Air Madagascar in October 1962.

The jumbo was one of a kind: the 747-200 with the registration 5R-MFT and the name “Ankoay” remained the airline’s only jumbo and flew until 1999. In 1986, Air Madagascar ordered ATR 42s to replace the Hawker Siddeley HS 748, and the first ATR 72 followed at the end of 2005. On long-haul routes, the Boeing 767-300ER took over from 2003.

The network was at times surprisingly large. Besides Paris and Marseille, Air Madagascar flew to Rome and Munich, among others, and from 1998 to 2002 also to Singapore. In 2009 a nonstop connection from the holiday island of Nosy Be to Paris was added.

Crises, the EU list and the A340

The 2000s and 2010s were marked by financial trouble and upheaval. In 2002, Lufthansa Consulting took over management under a management contract, and creditors forgave part of the debt. In 2011, two of the aging 767-300s were no longer allowed to fly into the EU; Air Madagascar then chartered a Boeing 777 from Euro Atlantic. After that, the airline was listed with conditions in Annex B of the EU air safety list, and removed again in June 2016.

From 2012, Air Madagascar took over two Airbus A340-300s from Air France. They flew under the registrations 5R-EAA and 5R-EAC until 2020 and 2021 respectively. If you mix up the two types in old photos: the A340 has four engines, the 767 two – more on similar four-engine jets in the comparison A330 or A340. From 2015 to 2022, a Boeing 737-800 was also part of the fleet.

In 2017, Air Austral took a 34 percent stake in Air Madagascar; flights to Guangzhou in China then ran as a codeshare of both airlines. The partnership ended in 2020. In 2018 the domestic subsidiary Tsaradia launched – its logo showed a lemur, the island’s best-known animal.

The end of long-haul

In November 2023, Madagascar Airlines ended all long-haul flights to concentrate on the domestic network. The lease contracts for the widebody jets expired. A connection to Paris remained on sale via a codeshare with Corsair. Later the last two A340-300s were sold to a buyer in China. Tsaradia ceased operations under its own name in June 2024; its routes have since run under the code MD.

The fleet: ATRs instead of the jumbo

Today the fleet is manageable. According to the fleet overviews available for 2026, Madagascar Airlines flies a few turboprops from ATR:

Type	Number (2026)	Seats	Use	Spotter note
ATR 72-500	4–5	64–72	Domestic and regional	Workhorse of the fleet
ATR 72-600	1	72 (10 business, 62 economy)	Domestic and regional	Newer generation with glass cockpit
DHC-6 Twin Otter	3	–	retired	On the ground and for sale according to fleet data

The figures vary slightly depending on source and cutoff date – with such a small fleet, a single aircraft in maintenance already makes a visible difference. According to reports, the army additionally made available a Let L-410 in 2026 for routes in the east of the island.

ATR 72-500 or -600? How to tell them apart

From the outside both versions look almost the same: high wing, T-tail, two turboprop engines. The differences are fine but recognizable.

The most reliable method is checking registration and tracker data: with so few aircraft, you will know every 5R registration and its version after a short time. The guide Telling turboprops apart shows how to tell the ATR 42 and 72 apart in general and separate them from the Dash 8.

How to recognize Madagascar Airlines

Because the airline has changed names, companies and aircraft in recent years, the livery is not a particularly stable feature. So rely on what does not change:

1. The registration: 5R- on the fuselage tells you immediately that the aircraft is registered in Madagascar.
2. The type: In active service it is almost always an ATR 72.
3. The code: MGY on the tracker or MD in the flight number.
4. The place: Almost every rotation begins or ends in Antananarivo-Ivato.

Spotting Madagascar Airlines

In Europe you will not see the airline at the moment. Since the end of long-haul service in 2023, no aircraft with a 5R registration lands regularly in Paris, Marseille or even Munich anymore. If you want a sighting today, you have to travel to Madagascar or its neighborhood – for example as part of a vacation. You can find planning tips under Plane spotting on vacation and Planning a spotting vacation.

The hub Antananarivo-Ivato is the obvious place. Here the airline’s ATRs meet international guests: Air Austral comes from La Réunion, Corsair from Paris and Airlink from South Africa. In Mauritius or La Réunion you also have chances if Madagascar Airlines offers regional flights there – check the current schedule, because the network changes often.

Via ADS-B the airline is not well covered everywhere; receiver density in Madagascar is lower than in Europe. Plan with the airport schedule instead and use the tracker as a supplement. The guide to flight tracking for spotters shows what to keep in mind.

Common mix-ups

• Logging Madagascar Airlines and Air Madagascar as two airlines – it is the same national airline, just in a new legal form. The codes MD and MGY stayed the same.
• Listing Tsaradia as a separate active airline – the subsidiary flew until 2024, and its routes now run under MD.
• Assigning every ATR in Madagascar to the airline – other airlines of the region such as Ewa Air also fly ATRs. The 5R registration decides.
• Filing A340 photos as Air France aircraft – the A340s did come from Air France, but flew as 5R-EAA and 5R-EAC for Air Madagascar.
• Logging the ATR 72-500 as a -600 – only one aircraft in the fleet is a -600.
• Hoping for Paris flights on its own equipment – to Paris you currently go via a codeshare with Corsair.

Conclusion

Madagascar Airlines is an airline you have to work for. Behind the plain picture of an ATR 72 lies a history of over 75 years – with Boeing 707s, a single jumbo combi, 767s and A340s. Today the fleet is small, long-haul service is on hold, and from the end of October 2026 the name Air Madagascar returns, according to the announcement. For spotters this means: if you get a 5R registration in front of your lens, you have a real rarity in your logbook.