Maputo, 30 Sep (AIM) – Mozambique Airlines (LAM) is planning to more than double its fleet of aircraft to at least 22 by 2027, according to the company’s director of operations, Hilário Tembe.
The director, cited by the Portuguese news agency LUSA, on the sidelines of the ceremony marking the resumption of direct flights between Johannesburg and the southern Mozambican city of Inhambane, claimed that “in the next few years the influx of aircraft will be massive.”
According to Tembe, the Mozambican airline has a total of nine aircraft and plans to acquire three more this year to respond to the resumption of connections with neighboring countries and the introduction of new routes.
“This year, we’ll probably end up with 12 aircraft (…) and then the plan is to have another 10 aircraft by the end of 2027,” said Tembe.
The director explained that Mozambique has resumed flights to Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, and to Johannesburg in South Africa since last year, and flights from Maputo to Lisbon are also expected to resume in November.
He also announced that a new route will be introduced this year from Maputo to Cape Town.
“This year we are also introducing the Maputo – Lusaka route, which we didn’t have before,” added Tembe.
For his part, Theunis Crous, the executive director of Fly Modern Ark (FMA), the South African company contracted by the Mozambican government to rescue LAM from technical bankruptcy and bring it into profitability, said that the company had already negotiated the lease of a Boeing 737 freighter, to handle cargo transport within the country and abroad.
“It’s an opportunity that could make the company profitable. Cargo transport is a very profitable business,” Crous said.
Fly Modern Ark has a one-year contract with the government for the restructuring of LAM to make it profitable through debt reduction, the introduction of new aircraft, and an increase in passengers.
Among recent improvements are the reduction in LAM fares of more than 30 per cent on some routes and an increase in the size of the LAM fleet with the acquisition of two Bombardier JRC 900 aircraft.
(AIM)
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