Mozambique: LAM has settled its debt with IATA – AIM report

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Mozambique: LAM has settled its debt with IATA – AIM report

6:40 CAT | 09 Jul 2025

Screen grab: CIP

Jacinto Uqueio, director of stakeholding control at Mozambique’s Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), has revealed that Mozambique Airlines (LAM) has settled its debt with the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Interviewed by CIPCAST, the podcast of the anti-corruption organization, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), Uqueio explained that the settlement of debts was one of the high-impact measures carried out by the new LAM Board of Directors, consisting of the three public companies that have taken shares in LAM, namely Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), which operates the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi River, the rail and port company, CFM, and the insurance company EMOSE.

The board is headed by the Australian Dane Kondić, and has the mission of bringing the bankrupt company back to viability.

According to Uqueio, “the company’s perspectives are changing. LAM is recovering its viability and one of the greatest measures was the settlement of debts with IATA. The company’s reputation is being recovered.”

READ: Mozambique tops the list of 10 countries responsible for 80% airline funds blocked from repatriation by governments – IATA

“This measure is a result of the current administration, taking into account the financing engineering that is under way. This measure will be extended and LAM will pay its debts to other companies, under the financing restructuring”, he said.

By settling its liabilities, LAM will once again have access to global booking and ticketing systems, a crucial step in its operational recovery.

IATA had announced that LAM failed to channel 205 million dollars over the last six months, heading a group of ten nations that accounted for 80 per cent of the amounts not transferred to airlines worldwide. “Between October 2024 and April 2025, Mozambique topped the list of countries with the highest amounts withheld from the purchase of tickets for international flights”, reads IATA’s report.

Regarding the licensing which will allow the South African based Air Company Solenta Aviation to start operating in the country, Uqueio said “LAM is not afraid of competition. It only has to adapt to new challenges.”

“The air space has always been open. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we had international companies operating in the national air space. These companies were competing with LAM, which means that competition is not a big deal”, he said.