Direct flights between the two cities began in November 2009, and LAM used an Embraer-190 aircraft, with a capacity for 98 passengers, to make the journey. But there was not sufficient demand, and so LAM incurred heavy losses on this route. The flights are suspended as from 1 July.
A LAM press release said that suspending the flights is part “of the restructuring of the company, its products and the routes operated, as well as the economic and financial assessment that the LAM Board of Directors is undertaking”.
LAM promises that passengers who have purchased tickets for flights in July or later are protected under the partnership between LAM and the Angolan national airline TAAG. They will have to fly via Johannesburg, on the LAM flights between Maputo and Johannesburg, and the TAAG flights between Johannebsurg and Luanda.
LAM promises that direct flights between Maputo and Luanda “will resume as soon as market conditions make this possible”.
For the time being, however, this marks the end of LAM's dream of regular scheduled flights between Maputo and all other capital cities of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region.
The release adds “the changes under way at LAM seeks to allow the national airline to serve better its passengers, to the benefit of the Mozambican economy and of Mozambican citizens”.
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