Air Mauritius first-half pretax loss widens on euro woes

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Air Mauritius posted a wider first-half pretax loss of 6.15 million euros from a 3.07 million euros a year earlier due to the depreciation of euro, the airline said on Thursday. Mauritius is a popular holiday destination, but the fragile economic situation in its core European markets and the depreciation of the euro against the dollar has hit the airline and the island's tourism industry hard. The Indian Ocean island's national carrier said it expected the euro's woes to continue to negatively impact its earnings, but this could be mitigated by the recent fall in price of fuel. The airline said in a statement that although the number of passengers carried rose 3.6 percent to 641,158 in the six months through September, the depreciating euro affected its profits. The carrier's shares closed 2.2 percent lower at 17.50 rupees each. The results were released after the market closed.