Maputo, 25 Jun (AIM) – Mozambican government has decided to establish a National Academy of Aeronautical Sciences (ACA), which will be responsible for reintroducing pilot and flight attendant training courses in the country.
The National Academy of Aeronautical Sciences replaces the historic National School of Aeronautics, which had ceased offering training courses for pilots and flight attendants.
According to Salim Valá, Minister of Planning and Development and government spokesperson, after a meeting of the Council of Ministers (cabinet), the reforms are part of the institutional restructuring of the country’s civil aviation sector, which requires effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and quality of the services provided.
“The ACA will, among other benefits, ensure the reintroduction of fixed-wing aircraft (airplane) pilot training, the reintroduction of the flight attendant (cabin crew) course, and the introduction of pilot training for rotary-wing aircraft, commonly known as helicopters”, he explained.
The Academy, the minister explained, has administrative, financial and pedagogical autonomy, “dedicating itself to training personnel in aeronautics and related fields.”
Valá also highlighted economic benefits by reducing training costs abroad, claiming that the new Academy will “increase operational efficiency, sustainability, and safety in civil aviation in Mozambique, as well as strengthening national sovereignty.”
The measure emerges at a moment when the publicly-owned Mozambique Airlines (LAM) is trying to recover from a bankruptcy after it recorded debts with suppliers, valued at over 230 million dollars as a result of embezzlement.
In 2024, LAM was under the management of the South African company Fly Modern Ark (FMA), which was hired by the government to bring the company into profitability and rescue it from bankruptcy. However, the effort did not solve anything.
Under the government’s restructuring plan, LAM is now under management of three other publicly-owned companies, namely: the rail and port company, CFM; the insurance company EMOSE (each with 15.4 percent of LAM’s shares) and Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi river, in the central Mozambican province of Tete (with 25.2 percent of the share).
LAM is currently operating with six aircraft, four of which are leased and two of which are owned by the company.
Am/
