Mozambique’s LAM suspends flights to Cape Town

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Mozambique’s LAM suspends flights to Cape Town

1:32 CAT | 01 Apr 2025

File photo: Lusa

Mozambican airline LAM announced yesterday (30-03) the suspension of direct flights to Cape Town, in neighbouring South Africa, from Tuesday, April 8, with the aim of “optimizing profitability and management efficiency”.

“This strategic decision is part of the national flag carrier’s business restructuring plan (…), whose main objective is to optimize the profitability of the company’s operations and management efficiency,” reads a press release from Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM).

According to the document, the LAM restructuring plan includes an “exhaustive assessment” of the company’s route performance, in which it determines the redefinition of its fleet routes, stating that it is now focused on “more domestic destinations”, in addition to its reference regional route, Maputo-Johannesburg-Maputo, which remains in operation.

The Mozambican airline said in its statement that conditions have been created to guarantee travel to Cape Town for all those who purchased tickets for dates after April 8.

LAM had already, on February 18, announced the suspension of the Maputo-Lisbon route the following day, stating that it had since 2023 lost more than US$21 million (€20 million) on the route.

“As long as the house is not in order and we continue to have irregularities on domestic flights, we cannot fly large,” LAM spokesperson Alfredo Cossa told a press conference in Maputo.

Abandoned by the company for almost 12 years, the Maputo-Lisbon route was resumed on November 20, 2023 as part of operator Fly Modern Ark’s revitalization plan, after the South African company took over LAM management in April of that same year.

Transport was provided by a 302-seat Boeing 777, resulting from a partnership with the Portuguese operator EuroAtlantic, but, according to the LAM spokesperson, the company’s new board of directors concluded that the operation was unviable.

“We were feeding this route on funds from the domestic market. We produced and paid, and now we can no longer cope,” Cossa added.

In addition to the Maputo-Lisbon route, LAM also withdrew routes between the Mozambican capital and Harare, in Zimbabwe, and Lusaka, in Zambia, describing them as unsustainable.

“After we have put our house in order and consolidated our position, we will look at intercontinental and regional flights,” added the LAM spokesperson.

For several years, LAM has been facing operational problems related to a reduced fleet and lack of investment, with a number of non-fatal incidents attributed to poor aircraft maintenance.

Source: Lusa