Maputo, April 24, 2025 (Lusa) - Mozambique Airlines (LAM) on Thursday explained the cancellation and successive rescheduling of flights with the reduction of its fleet to just three aircraft, following the withdrawal of two Bombardier CRJ900 regional aircraft from South Africa's CemAir, after the contract with the latter was unilaterally terminated.
"We are constantly rescheduling flights and these reschedules are part of a cancellation process, we are having cancellations, rescheduling due to a lack of passenger capacity," admitted the flag carrier's spokesman, Alfredo Cossa, at a press conference.
With the withdrawal of the aircraft sourced from CemAir - two CRJ900s with a capacity of 90 passengers each - the Mozambican state-owned company is now operating with three planes, namely two Embraer 145s with a capacity of 50 passengers each, and one other aircraft with a capacity of 37 passengers, but which does not operate regularly as it is not owned by LAM.
"We are now concentrating on finding partners to solve the crisis we are going through and we are in negotiations with partners," said Cossa.
LAM said that the termination of the CemAir contract was done "unilaterally, without prior notice" with the consequences of a "drastic reduction in the flow of passengers."
On April 13, LAM cancelled domestic flights on the route between Maputo, in the south, and Quelimane, in the centre of the country, due to the breakdown of an aircraft, a recurring scenario in recent weeks, this being the second incident in less than two weeks.
On 31 January it also went ahead with a procedure to try to contract the supply of Embraer ERJ190 and Boeing 737-700 aircraft, according to a notice previously reported by Lusa, but the results of the tender are not yet known.
It involved the submission of expressions of interest for the supply of aircraft, of these two models, by national or foreign companies or consortia until 7 February.
A source from the airline explained to Lusa that this procedure did not include quantities of aircraft to be contracted, a decision that depends on the proposals submitted in this tender.
For several years, LAM has been facing operational problems related to a reduced fleet and lack of investment, with a record of some incidents, albeit not fatal, that experts have said are explained by poor aircraft maintenance.
The recurring problems at the flag carrier led to the hiring of Fly Modern Ark (FMA), a South African aviation brokerage.
The contract ended on 12 September 2024, having been in force since April 2023, when FMA was called in to implement a strategy to revitalise the company after years of operational problems related to a reduced fleet and a lack of investment, with a number of non-fatal incidents associated with poor aircraft maintenance.
When FMA took over management of the state-owned airline, it highlighted that LAM had an estimated debt of around €300 million (€269 million at the current exchange rate).
Last week, Mozambique's Public Prosecution Service announced the opening of a case to investigate the details of the signing of an agreement between FMA and Mozambican entities to restructure LAM.
The Public Prosecution Service also said that the case concerning alleged corruption schemes in ticket sales at LAM has as yet no defendants, and is still being investigated. The aim is to identify the ownership of the automatic payment terminal machines used to sell tickets, ascertain the losses and identify the perpetrators.
In February, the government authorised the sale of 91% of the state's stake in LAM to state-owned companies, indicating that the amount would be used to purchase eight aircraft.
On average, LAM currently has 915 passengers a day travelling to national and regional destinations.
PME/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
