Maputo, 12 Aug (AIM) – Mozambique’s Competition Regulatory Authority (ARC) has fined Mozambican Airlines (LAM) over 11 million meticais (170,000 dollars at the current exchange rate) for imposing illegal surcharges and obstructing an official investigation.
According to the ARC statement, the report on the illegal acts committed by LAM will also be filed to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) “which may take further action if further evidence of irregularities is found.”
“The company applied a surcharge on domestic flights to compensate for fuel price variations on international flights, even after the government banned the surcharge in 2021. In some cases, the surcharge represented up to 60 percent of the ticket price. On a 10,000 metical ticket, for example, about 6,000 meticais corresponded to the surcharge alone”, reads the document.
The ARC statement said there was no legal or accounting basis for the surcharge and LAM distorted the real price of tickets, financially harming passengers and abusing its dominant position in the market.
In addition, LAM failed to provide documents and information requested by the investigation conducted by the ARC.
“The surcharge was kept to increase revenue and cover operating and social responsibility costs, such as fuel and wages. The fines imposed correspond to 8.3 million meticais for the undue collection of the surcharge and 2.7 million meticais for non-cooperation in the investigation”, reads the note.
The ARC has warned that payment of the fine must be made within 15 days “and within two months, the company must eliminate the surcharge.”
(AIM)
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