Mozambique Airlines (LAM) announced on Monday 31 March that it would suspend direct flights to Cape Town, South Africa, from 8 April, with the aim of ‘optimising profitability and management efficiency’.
‘This strategic decision is part of the national flag carrier’s business restructuring plan, the main aim of which is to optimise the profitability of operations and management efficiency of the entity,’ LAM said in a statement.
The carrier said in the document that the restructuring plan includes an ‘exhaustive assessment’ of the performance of its routes, which has led to the redefinition of its fleet’s routes, claiming that it is now more focussed on ‘domestic destinations’, in addition to its reference regional route, Maputo-Joanesburg-Maputo, which will continue.
In the meantime, the company has guaranteed that the conditions are in place to guarantee travel to Cape Town for all those who bought tickets for dates after 8 April.
In February, LAM announced the immediate suspension of the Maputo-Lisbon route. The measure was justified by the high accumulated losses, which exceed 21 million dollars (1.3 billion meticals) since its inauguration. Transport was provided by a 302-seat Boeing 777, the result of a partnership with the operator EuroAtlantic.
At the time, the company’s spokesman, Alfredo Cossa, explained that the suspension of the route was one of the actions taken as part of a restructuring of the company, which was being aligned with the government’s 100-day plan, emphasising that efforts would be redirected towards the domestic and regional markets, where operations were more sustainable.
The company pointed out that it fuelled the Lisbon operation with resources from the domestic market, which eventually became unsustainable. ‘We can’t keep flying ‘big’ until the house is put in order. First, we need to consolidate the domestic market. Then we’ll move on to the regional and international markets in a more solid way,’ he explained.
LAM’s restructuring also included the suspension of other loss-making routes, such as Maputo-Harare-Lusaka, which generated losses of 307,000 dollars (19.6 million meticals).
Abandoned by the company for almost 12 years, the Maputo – Lisbon route was resumed in December 2023, at the same time that LAM made its debut in Cape Town. The two routes were part of the Mozambican operator’s revitalisation plan, after South Africa’s Fly Modern Ark (FMA) took over its management to help with the restructuring process.
At one of the sessions of the Council of Ministers, the government decided to sell 91 per cent of the state’s shares in Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique through private negotiation. The Executive also authorised the public institutions Empresa Moçambicana de Seguros (EMOSE), Caminhos-de-Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) and Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) to acquire the state’s stake in the airline.
The estimated amount to be raised from the sale of the state shares (130 million dollars, approximately 8.3 billion meticals) will be used to buy eight new aircraft and restructure the company.
