Mozambique: LAM to start flights to Dubai and China by July – Theunis Crous

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Mozambique: LAM to start flights to Dubai and China by July – Theunis Crous

3:12 CAT | 14 Mar 2024

Photo: LAM

LAM plans to launch regular flights to Dubai and China by July, the general director of the state airline, Theunis Crous, told Lusa on Wednesday.

“We hope to launch for Dubai and Guangzhou, China, in the next three months – in June or July,” Crous said on the sidelines of the presentation at Maputo airport of the company’s first cargo plane, a Boeing 737-300F.

“The company is stabilising. I’ve been [general director] for two weeks, but I’ve been here for eight months, and we’re following a defined plan,” Crous added.

Theunis Crous is also general director of the South African company Fly Modern Ark (FMA), appointed by the Mozambican government in April of last year to carry out the restructuring of LAM.

LAM’s board of directors announced on February 28 the termination of duties of the company’s general director, João Carlos Pó Jorge, as part of the company’s restructuring measures. On the same day, he was replaced by Theunis Crous, who will take on the role on an interim basis until April 30, the period scheduled for the decision to renew the contract with FMA, in which the new general director of LAM is a partner and its general director.

The termination of duties of João Carlos Pó Jorge, general director since 2018, occurred after LAM’s restructuring director, Sérgio Matos, announced the discovery of a money embezzlement scheme, with losses of around €3 million in sales of tickets, diverted through automatic payment terminal machines (TPA/POS) that do not belong to the company.

At yesterday’s ceremony, launching the LAM’s new cargo service, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Amilton Alissone recalled the previous decision to “extraordinarily intervene” in the management of LAM, which is fully state-owned, with the aim of “stabilising the company to avoid progressive losses”, while “the best assessment is made for a decision on the long-term future of this company”.

“We intervened in the management of LAM at a time when the company was going through progressive depreciation, with extreme difficulties in honouring its commitments with third parties and other indicators that pointed to a more challenging situation for the company,” Alissone emphasized. “As a result of the in-depth work developed with the carefully identified partner, less than a year later, the reality of the company Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique shows signs of improvement, transmitting confidence that the decision taken was the right one.”

He added that “safe steps are being taken towards the stabilization of the company”, with several “progresses” having been “achieved” in recent months, such as the “increase of the fleet” in service, “improving its ability to respond to market demand , increasing domestic frequencies, opening new routes and reopening others”.

Also a “30% reduction in fares for some destinations”, which “is promoting improved access to air transport services in the country, consequently boosting tourism, among other economic gains”.

“Financial work has been done and is being done to ensure that the company’s financial transfers are at the desired level. Despite the good results we are achieving (…) we recognize that the company has not yet reached the level of efficiency desired,” Alissone concluded.

LAM operates regular passenger flights to the country’s 10 provincial capitals and to the Mozambican cities of Vilanculos and Nacala. Regionally, it also flies to Johannesburg and Cape Town (South Africa), Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzania), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Lusaka (Zambia), with the launch of flights to Lilongwe (Malawi) and Nairobi (Kenya).

LAM has also been flying three times a week to Lisbon since last December, the only intercontinental destination it currently serves.

Source: Lusa