Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM) suspended its only intercontinental flight on Wednesday, as the airline struggles to put its house in order, reports Portuguese news agency Lusa.
Mozambique’s flag carrier cited more than US$21 million in losses as the reason for the suspension of the Maputo-Lisbon route, reintroduced in November 2023 after being abandoned for over a decade. The company is working to transfer at least 1,080 passengers who already purchased tickets to other airlines, offering refunds if no alternate flights are possible.
Lisbon isn’t the only international destination being axed, with the company already suspending loss-making regional routes to Harare (Zimbabwe) and Lusaka (Zambia). This leaves LAM with just a handful of services outside Mozambique: Johannesburg (South Africa), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and the recently opened Cape Town (South Africa) route, the viability of which is under evaluation.
A press release from LAM said the company would focus on its 12 domestic services, which have suffered to fund the more costly international flights. “Once we’ve put our house in order and updated our position, we’ll look at intercontinental and regional routes,” Alfredo Cossa, LAM spokesman, said at a press conference in Maputo.
Bringing back the Lisbon service was part of a revitalisation plan, implemented after South African company Fly Modern Ark (FMA) temporarily took over management of LAM in April 2023 in a restructuring process. It faced an uphill climb: LAM was US$300 million in debt, with years of operational problems due to a reduced fleet and lack of investment, and a history of non-fatal incidents believed to come from poor aircraft maintenance.
[See more: Air Macau adds more flights to Taichung in March]
During its tenure, FMA denounced schemes to embezzle money at LAM, allegedly conducted in ticket shops and through automatic payment terminals that did not belong to the company. Mozambique’s anti-corruption agency (GCCC) also opened a case last February into alleged graft in ticket sales and management of the fleet.
Current board chair, Marcelino Gildo Alberto, announced in late January, is the third person appointed to lead the airline in the last 11 months, replacing Américo Muchanga, who had replaced Theunis Christian de Klerk Crous from FMA, which ended its management of LAM last September.
The recently suspended routes are the result of assessments made by the current LAM board of directors, which took office in January. They framed the decision as an effort by the company “to give a new dynamic to its business in optimising the profitability of its operations and the efficiency of its management.”
Earlier this month, the Mozambican government authorised the sale of 91 percent of the state’s stake in the airline to state-owned companies, a move expected to generate around US$130 million for the acquisition of eight aircraft and the restructuring of the company, government spokesman Inocêncio Impissa said at the time.
Only three companies – the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant (HCB), port and railway firm Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) and insurance company Empresa Moçambicana de Seguros (Emose) – are allowed to acquire the state’s holdings under the approved resolution.
