The Mozambican government is seeking cooperation with US aircraft manufacturer Boeing to restructure and make profitable the national carrier Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM), according to a note from the Ministry of Transport and Logistics.
To pursue this goal, transport and logistics minister João Jorge Matlombe met with a Boeing representative in the United States on the sidelines of the World Bank’s international conference “Transforming Transportation.” He “invited the company to join the government’s efforts to restructure and make LAM profitable,” the ministry note states. Boeing expressed openness to deepening the conversations, and further meetings between the parties have been scheduled for April.
LAM has faced operational problems for several years due to a reduced fleet and lack of investment, with some non-fatal incidents attributed by experts to poor aircraft maintenance, and is currently undergoing a deep restructuring process. It stopped operating international flights nearly a year ago, focusing on domestic routes, which also led to a new management team in May and the entry of Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric (HCB), Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM) and the Mozambican Insurance Company (Emose) as shareholders.
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In February, Mozambique announced its intention to draw on Ethiopia’s experience in pilot training and airline restructuring, with Ethiopian Airlines expressing interest in flying to central and northern Mozambique. To address recurring flight cancellations, LAM has been acquiring and leasing new aircraft, most recently an Airbus A319 with 148 seats that arrived in Maputo in December.
LAM’s losses surged to 3.977 billion meticais (€53.7 million) in 2023, forcing the state to inject one billion meticais (€13.5 million) and issue a comfort letter in 2024. The airline, which has not been publicly releasing accounts, had recorded losses of 448.6 million meticais (€6 million) in 2022 — a figure that more than quadrupled the following year.
