Mozambique Airlines (LAM) announced today the end of the operation linking Maputo and Lisbon due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
“The flight has continued as scheduled but has not been extended due to the situation of the covid-19 pandemic in Europe and other countries in the world,” a LAM note said.
The operation, which was carried out in partnership with the Portuguese company Hi Fly, was reintroduced in July and was scheduled to end officially on 15 January.
“[The operation] has been successfully carried out”, the company’s communiqué stresses.
A weekly flight, which was being operated by an Airbus A330-300 aircraft, was leaving on Tuesdays from Lisbon for Maputo at 20:00 (local time on departure) and another on Wednesdays from Maputo for Lisbon at 23:55 (local time on departure).
The flight represented the return of the Mozambican flag company to Europe, after almost 10 years, and was described as a sustainable journey, putting LAM in a ‘new network’.
“We look at traffic intelligence and notice that by far this is the route with the most passengers. Not only between Lisbon and Maputo, but also from Maputo to Lisbon and then to Western Europe,” said João Carlos Pó Jorge, the company’s managing director, at the time of the announcement.
Mozambique has a total of 22,334 cases of infection with the new coronavirus, 197 deaths and 17,623 (78 percent) people fully recovered, according to the latest update.
