Maputo, 31 Oct (AIM) – Mozambique Airlines (LAM) intends to resume flights between Maputo and Lisbon as of December 12, expecting to earn between 320,000 and 360,000 dollars for each flight.
According to LAM general director, João Pó Jorge, who was speaking to reporters on Monday in Maputo at a meeting also aimed to take stock of the first six months intervention of Fly Modern Ark, the South African company contracted by the government to rescue LAM from technical bankruptcy and bring it into profitability, the company will soon also introduce a new Maputo – Cape Town route.
There will be three flights a week in each direction between the Portuguese and Mozambican capitals, but they will not be operated by LAM staff, who do not have sufficient experience in inter-continental flights.
Po Jorge did not name the company that will operate the flights, but it will charge LAM 42,000 US dollars per flight. LAM expects to make 600,000 dollars per flight. Once the operational costs, and the 42,000 dollars paid to the operator, are deducted, LAM expects that 320,000 dollars per flight will remain with the company.
“This restructuring that the government is doing with LAM is obviously aimed at substantially improving LAM’s operational and financial performance, as well as increasing the network where there are markets and opportunities”, he said.
“As you have seen, we have opened up new destinations, increased flights and all of this is part of our plan to expand the company”, he added.
According to Pó Jorge, the Lisbon flight is challenging for the company because “an intercontinental operation with a long-haul plane requires a lot of work, a lot of preparation and that’s what we want to have.”
He also said that the Cape Town flight will be operated soon, under similar conditions to Lisbon, with a weekly frequency of three flights and benefiting around 270 passengers per flight. In this case, the operator will charge LAM 85,000 dollars per month.
“We want to create a partnership and consolidate our capacity. We have some staff with this experience and others who need to acquire it. That’s why, initially, most of the control will be with the partner operator, and then gradually it will be under our control”, Po Jorge explained.
For his part, the FMA’s Project Director, Sérgio Matos, said that the business is sustainable, since on each Lisbon flight, LAM expects to make a profit of 320,000 to 360,000 dollars.
Last September, the company announced the resumption of direct flights between Johannesburg and the southern Mozambican city of Inhambane, as well as the intention of buying a Boeing 737 freighter to handle cargo transport within the country and abroad.
LAM, which has nine aircraft, also plans to acquire three more this year to respond to the resumption of connections with neighbouring countries and the introduction of new routes.
(AIM)
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