Mozambique seeks Ethiopian expertise in LAM restructuring and pilot training

Mozambique wants to draw on Ethiopia’s experience in pilot training and in the restructuring of Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM), with Ethiopian Airlines expressing interest in operating flights to the central and northern regions of the country, officials announced on Tuesday. “They have the largest airline in Africa, we have the dream of revitalising LAM and there is no better place to study than here, because they started from nothing. It is an experience that exists and that we can learn from,” the Mozambican ambassador to Ethiopia, Nuno Tomás, told the press.

“I think Ethiopia has a lot to offer us and we can take advantage of it, which is why we are here and are interested. They are also very good at training commercial pilots, so it is a school we can use to train our LAM pilots,” he added. In the same statements, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation said that Ethiopian Airlines, in addition to helping with the restructuring of the Mozambican airline, also wants to explore flights to the central and northern regions of Mozambique.

“Ethiopian intends to enter some of our cities in the north of the country and I think this is what they want to discuss with us, to see if we can work together to open up this territory. They want to fly to Nacala, Nampula and also to Beira,” said Minister Maria Lucas. To minimise recurring flight cancellations, the airline has been acquiring and leasing new aircraft, the latest being a 148-seat Airbus A319, which arrived in Maputo in December.

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LAM’s losses soared to 3,977 million meticais (€53.5 million) in 2023, requiring the State to inject 1,000 million meticais (€13.7 million) and issue a comfort letter in 2024, according to Lusa on 7 August. The airline, which has not published its accounts publicly, had recorded losses of 448.6 million meticais (€6 million) in 2022, which then surged the following year, according to the most recent available financial statements. For several years, the company has faced operational challenges linked to a reduced fleet and lack of investment, with some non-fatal incidents attributed by experts to poor aircraft maintenance.

LAM is currently undergoing a deep restructuring process. Despite the accumulated losses that year, LAM’s service revenue grew 4% in 2023 compared with 2022, reaching 8,813 million meticais (€118.7 million), according to the report, which highlighted the majority shareholder’s “commitment to provide the necessary resources” to allow the airline “to meet its obligations and commitments” with third parties, “through a comfort letter dated 7 October 2024,” issued by IGEPE. The report added that, “considering the loss recorded” in 2023 and previous years, and given that the company closed that year with negative equity of 19,670 million meticais (€265 million), compared with 16,765 million meticais (€225.8 million) in 2022, and current assets “were lower than current liabilities” by approximately 18,641 million meticais (€251 million), the carrier’s continuity was at risk.

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