A four week strike  by Air Madagascar employees, over what they termed was mismanagement of the state-owned airline, has forced the Africa’s largest Island government to consider inviting foreign airlines to compete with the state carrier, Reuters reported last week.

The strike, which had grounded the state-owned airline’s fleet since June 15, ended on Friday after the government signed a deal  with the union officials.

An increase in foreign flights to the Indian ocean nation is likely to boost tourism to the Island known for exotic wild animals and plants that are not found anywhere else in the world.

Reuters reported that the four week strike  by Air Madagascar employees had hit the nation’s tourism sector, emptying beaches and tropical rain forests of visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of rare lemurs and other unique animals, during the summer high season.

“It’s not good to have a monopoly for the national (airline) because some sectors are depending on Air Madagascar and if Air Madagascar doesn’t work very well, every sector will fall down,” Ulrich Andriantiana, Madagascar’s tourism minister, told Reuters.

“That’s why we need to go further (down) the liberalization (route) for the sector.”

Poor governance and mismanagement had pushed the state-run airline to cancel 65-70 percent of their flights in recent months, striking employees said.

The strike also cost the airline as much as $500,000 in daily losses and forces the airline’s board, including the Managing Director, Haja Raelison, to resign en-mass, ch-aviation reported.