The Minister of Transport and Communications, Mateus Magala, said that Fly Modern Ark (FMA) had fulfilled its mandate, which was to ‘return sustainability’ to Mozambique Airlines (LAM) and make the company more competitive in the market. However, he asked for ‘patience’ so that the company can return to its former robustness.
‘The company was insolvent, and in less than a month FMA has shown positive data and progress. Millions of dollars have been invested. So if we can’t see that as a positive step, I don’t think we can be reasonable,’ he argued, quoted by O País.
In his speech, Magala pointed out that the South African organisation had introduced new routes, as well as boosting domestic services, stressing that domestic travel was more profitable.
‘We are flying in Portugal and at national level, we can see that journeys are more frequent and profitable, with only the Tete-Maputo route still showing deficiencies in terms of profit,’ he emphasised.
The minister emphasised that more time is needed for the results to be more visible. ‘The first phase was really about trying to stabilise LAM and reduce all the complaints there were. Now a new challenge has arisen, which is to increase the fleet and improve our service, which requires financial resources and expertise.’
“The company was insolvent, and in less than a month the FMA has shown positive data and progress.Millions of dollars have been invested.So if we can’t appreciate that as a positive step, I think we’re unreasonable.”
The partnership between LAM and Fly Modern Ark, established in April 2023, came at a time of great difficulty for the carrier, which was facing a series of operational problems. The difficulties were associated with a limited fleet and a lack of investment, factors which contributed to a number of operational incidents, albeit without casualties.
The FMA implemented a series of measures to optimise the company’s management, improve aircraft maintenance and reinforce safety. The continuity of services, particularly to destinations such as Johannesburg, Dar es Salaam, Harare, Lusaka, Cape Town and Lisbon, was one of the positive results of the restructuring work.
Meanwhile, during its management, Fly Modern Ark identified embezzlement schemes in LAM’s operations, which resulted in losses of around 222 million meticals, were facilitated by automatic payment terminals (TPA/POS) that were not controlled by the company, but were used in ticket shops. These allegations led Mozambique’s Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC) to open an investigation, which is still underway, aimed at ascertaining responsibility for the fraud and assessing the management of the company’s fleet.
The end of the partnership with Fly Modern Ark coincided with a change in LAM’s leadership. In July 2024, Américo Muchanga was appointed chairman of the carrier, replacing Theunis Christian de Klerk Crous.
