The effect of previous blanching and/or osmotic dehydration (at atmospheric pressure or in vacuum) with glucose syrups on the kinetics of water transport during the first falling rate period of air drying of mango at 60 o C was investigated. Both pre-drying treatments decreased strongly the effective moisture diffusivity (D e f f ) calculated with Fick's second law. For osmotically concentrated fruit at atmospheric pressure, the increase in glucose concentration of the immersion solution decreased the drying rate. D e f f values were similar for mangoes predehydrated to a w 0.97 by vacuum or atmospheric osmosis, but previous blanching slightly decreased the D e f f value for vacuum treated slices compared with those osmotically dehydrated to the same a w at atmospheric pressure. The air drying behaviour of blanched and/or osmotically dehydrated mangoes was ascribed to glucose uptake during the impregnation step, volume shrinking, low modification of cell wall resistance to water flux by the pretreatments and/or gelatinization of starch and denaturation of protein - carbohydrate mucilage.