The Mozambican President, Daniel Chapo, said this Monday, December 8, in Porto, that the state-owned Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM) will return to flying to Portugal, and will start connecting to India and Brazil.
“We want to resume flights to three destinations. Of these three destinations, we will start with Portugal. It is Portugal, Brazil and India”said the head of state, in a meeting with the Mozambican community in Porto, where he will participate, on Tuesday, in the sixth Bilateral Portugal – Mozambique Summit.
The suspension of LAM flights to Portugal, since February, due to the restructuring of the state airline, was precisely one of the concerns raised in the meeting with the head of state, which brought together more than a hundred people.
“After stabilizing at the country level, we are already on the right track, we will move on to Johannesburg and Harare, and other regional capitals”he explained.
Although without specifying dates for the resumption of LAM flights to Portugal, Chapo said that after “consolidating” the resumption of this connection, to take advantage of the potential of attracting tourism and business, the company will also “return to flying to Brazil” and then to India.
He also said that LAM, which has been reinforcing its fleet and is currently negotiating “two more aircraft”, will then “stop and consolidate these three destinations”.
“The resumption of flights to Portugal is already on the horizon”insisted Chapo, guaranteeing that the return of LAM to this connection “can stabilize prices”, as the only direct connection from Maputo to Lisbon is currently operated by TAP.
Abandoned by the Mozambican company for almost 12 years, the Maputo – Lisbon route was resumed on November 20, 2023 and was part of the revitalization plan of the South African Fly Modern Ark, which then managed the air carrier.
Provided with planes from the Portuguese company EuroAtlantic, the connection was suspended in February this year, with LAM admitting to having accumulated losses of 20 million euros with this route.