The Mozambican government today considered the work of the South African company that led the restructuring of Mozambique Airlines (LAM) to be positive, highlighting the resumption of flights between Maputo and Lisbon as proof of Fly Modern Ark’s work.
‘When Fly Modern Ark [FMA] arrived, the company was insolvent and, in less than a month, they demonstrated that the company was solvent, saving millions of dollars (…). The second thing they did was introduce a flight that hadn’t existed for more than 10 years. The people now have other options (…) and LAM is proving to be competitive,’ Mateus Magala, Minister of Transport and Communication, told Lusa on the sidelines of the official Peace Day ceremonies in Mozambique.
The contract between FMA and LAM ended on 12 September and had been in force since April 2023, when the South African company was called in to implement a revitalisation strategy, after years of operational problems related to a reduced fleet and lack of investment, with a record of some incidents, not fatal, associated by experts with inefficient aircraft maintenance.
For Magala, the restructuring by FMA was a phase and now, with the arrival in July of a new company president, Américo Muchanga, a new chapter is expected for LAM, although he admits that there are challenges that need time to be overcome.
‘I said at the beginning that the well-disciplined reform of LAM, to turn it around effectively, would take between one and two years. We need to continue with the belief that the new management will make the company remarkable,’ emphasised Magala.
When the FMA took over management of the state-owned airline, it recognised that LAM had an estimated debt of around 300 million dollars (269 million euros at the current exchange rate).
During the period of FMA’s management, the South African company also denounced schemes to embezzle money at LAM, with losses of almost three million euros, in ticket shops, through automatic payment terminal machines (TPA/POS) that do not belong to the company.
Mozambique’s Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC) has opened a case to investigate alleged corruption schemes in ticket sales at the Mozambican airline and in the management of the company’s fleet, and has seized various materials.
‘We’re monitoring [the investigations] and it’s a very complex job. But we believe that the PGR will contribute to unravelling this mystery,’ added Magala.
LAM operates 12 destinations on the domestic market, regionally it flies regularly to Johannesburg, Dar Es Salaam, Harare, Lusaka and Cape Town, and Lisbon is its only intercontinental destination.
LAM returned to flights to Lisbon on 12 December with a 302-seat Boeing 777, the result of a partnership with Portuguese operator EuroAtlantic, connecting the two capitals three times a week.
On 26 August, the company’s new president announced that LAM had earned a total of 52 million euros in the first half of this year and plans to acquire four more aircraft by 2024.
Source: Lusa
