Maputo, 13 Aug (AIM) – The Chief Executive Officer of the publicly-owned company Mozambique Airlines (LAM), Dane Kondić, has announced that the two aircraft that have been grounded in South Africa, for several months for maintenance reasons, will start operating within this week.
Two aircraft were acquired, over the last year, under LAM’s restructuring process but they have been grounded in South Africa for several months for maintenance reasons. The planes are both Embraer-190s, and can carry up to 100 passengers each. They cost the airline 12.5 million US dollars each.
Agostinho Langa, chairperson of the Mozambican port and rail company CFM, one of the three state-owned companies managing Mozambique Airlines (LAM), had explained that the two aircraft “are not operating because they are being repainted.”
Kondić, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, during the ceremony aimed at establishing air links between central and northern Mozambique through the central city of Beira, in Sofala province, with these two aircraft, the number of aircraft in operation will rise to 10.
“By the end of the year we will have two more. So LAM will have 12 aircraft in operation, which represents a major improvement compared with the situation a year ago. Today we have two of our own aircraft in operation and six aircraft from partners flying, making a total of eight. Two more aircraft, the new Embraer 190s, will join the fleet this week”, he said.
“When we arrived at the company in May last year, the company had only three aircraft. Today LAM is in a very good position compared with 12 months ago”, he added.
Under the plan to restructure LAM, the government has authorized three state-owned companies to acquire stakes of the country’s flag carrier. The companies in question are: Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi river, in the central Mozambican province of Tete, which acquired of 25.2 percent of the share capital; the rail and port company, CFM, and the insurance company EMOSE, which acquired 15.4 percent of LAM’s shares by investing 22 million dollars each.
“The management and the new shareholder structure had been working hard to improve the airline’s financial and operational situation. Expanding the fleet was the main priority. Having more aircraft also means that we can connect the country. Mozambicans need air transport. The country is huge, so air transport is, in fact, the best and only way to connect everyone. We will work even harder from now on to continue making progress”, Kondić said.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, the new connections from Beira to other central regions of Tete and Quelimane and to northern regions of Nampula, Pemba and Nacala, will be operated by a Bombardier CRJ200 leased in Kenya, with a capacity of 50 passengers.
“Strengthening the air links should help boost the local economy, amid increasing use of Beira airport and growing investment and tourism activity. LAM’s problem has always been the lack of sufficient aircraft”, he said.
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.
Am/
