Maputo, Nov. 7, 2025 (Lusa) - Mozambique's Minister of Transport and Logistics, João Matlombe, recognised on Friday that the country's aviation sector is not doing well, arguing that mistakes cannot be perpetuated in a scenario of "challenges and disinvestment".
"Our aviation system, unfortunately, at the moment, is not in the best condition," said João Matlombe, during the opening of the Civil Aviation Masterplan Consultation (2026-2045), in Maputo.
According to Matlombe, Mozambique has a transport sector with "many challenges" and which "is sometimes confused with an airline", with security problems and "disinvestment" in airport infrastructure.
"We have the right to make different mistakes. What we can't do is assume that what hasn't been or doesn't work well has to be perpetuated and at the moment, unfortunately, we don't have a good benchmark from the point of view of the aviation system," he recognised.
The position comes at a time when the state-owned airline LAM is in the process of restructuring, leasing new aircraft, and returning to international connections, but also at a time of public criticism of the fares it charges for domestic flights.
Matlombe acknowledged that it is difficult to assess the fares applied by companies when the country is still issuing licences to aviation operators without a business plan, and that it is necessary to "see if in fact what is being charged makes sense or not".
"Every operator is licensed every day and does what they want; there has to be security, even more or less, for investors. Investors put money in, they have to know that they have to get it back; there also has to be protection for investors," he said, pointing out that the loophole takes away the security of the investment that is made in the country.
The minister also said that there should be a national regulator with a "strong, firm role, convinced that it can and must organise", with the duty to take a position and not just be a "mere assistant", as well as having the duty to create conditions so that there is a balance, "obliging" all operators who want to intervene in the domestic market also to be part of the social activity.
In June, the public company Aeroportos de Moçambique announced in its report and accounts that it had almost doubled its losses in 2024, to 1,531 million meticais (€20.8 million).
According to the document, Aeroportos de Moçambique had already recorded losses of 849.5 million meticais (€11.5 million) in 2023, which thus grew again by 80.3% in one year. In 2022, it recorded losses of 820.5 million meticais (€11.2 million) and in 2021 an equally negative net result of 215.6 million meticais (€2.9 million).
Even so, the company said in the document, air passenger traffic grew by 4.16% compared to 2023, to 2,055,435, and aircraft movements increased by 1.5%, to 61,182. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 2,296,370 passengers were transported in Mozambique in 2019, with 70,602 aircraft movements.
Aeroportos de Moçambique explains this growth in 2024 with the performance of the national company LAM, which accounts for 64% of passengers and which in that year surpassed the figures for 2023, but also the historic peak seen in 2019.
LCE/ADB // ADB.
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