“We aim to resume flights to three destinations. Among these, we will start with Portugal. It is Portugal, Brazil, and India,” announced the head of state during a meeting with the Mozambican community in Porto, where he is participating on Tuesday in the sixth Portugal-Mozambique Bilateral Summit.
The suspension of LAM flights to Portugal since February, due to the restructuring of the state-owned airline, was precisely one of the concerns raised at the meeting with the head of state, attended by more than a hundred people.
“After stabilizing at the national level, we are already on the right path, 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 leverage tourism and business potential, the company will also “return to flying to Brazil” and then to India.
He further stated that LAM, which has been strengthening its fleet and is currently negotiating for “two more aircraft,” will then “stop and consolidate these three destinations.”
“The resumption of flights to Portugal is already in the works,” Chapo insisted, assuring that LAM’s return to this route “could 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 was then managing the airline.
Operated with aircraft from the Portuguese company euroAtlantic, the connection was suspended in February this year, with LAM admitting to having accumulated losses of 20 million euros on this route.
