The Malagasy government wants to reconsider Corsair International's traffic rights between Madagascar and La Reunion because of an "excessive" impact on Air Madagascar. The French and Malagasy civil aviation authorities have planned to meet at the end of February to discuss the matter.

In April 2017, Corsair International opened a route between Saint-Denis-de-la-Reunion and Antananarivo, after obtaining traffic rights from the French and Malagasy authorities. The new service competes with Air Austral and Air Madagascar, also flying this route.

Apparently, this situation does not suit Air Madagascar, now owned 49% by Air Austral and 51% by the Malagasy Government. According to the Reunion website linfo.re, "the Minister of Transport and Meteorology of Madagascar has decided not to renew Corsair’s traffic authorization", because this new competition would have "too big an impact" on Air Madagascar. Today, if the authorization had remained in place the airline’s load factor would gone from 53% to 29%.

Accused by Air Madagascar of not unfair play, Corsair has defended itself. "Our rates are lower than the competition encouraging more people to fly with us," said a company spokesman on the Reunion website Zinfos974.com. The subsidiary of the tourism giant TUI maintains that its presence on the Reunion – Madagascar route is "essential" for "fair and healthy competition".

Corsair said it is "confident" in the continuance of its rights after the consultations between the French and Malagasy civil aviation authorities take place at the end of the month.