LAM FORMALISES ACQUISITION OF NEW BOEINGS

Mozambique Airlines (LAM) on Wednesday signed an agreement in Maputo formalizing a contract with the aircraft manufacturer Boeing for the acquisition of three “New Generation” Boeing 737s.The contract represents an investment of 225 million US dollars by LAM, which intends to use the new planes to diversify its routes on the domestic and regional markets. The first of the new planes should arrive in May 2015, and the others will arrive in the two subsequent years. Each of the planes will have been manufactured in the year of its delivery. The new acquisitions bring to 15 the number of planes in the LAM fleet. Speaking at the ceremony, the LAM Chief Executive Office, Marlene Manave, said the acquisition of the Boeing 737s was part of the company’s strategic plan to expand and strengthen its fleet, and to rationalise its resources.Manave said that LAM needs planes that are rather larger than the ones it is currently flying and which can travel longer distances without the need to refuel. 

The Next-Generation 737-700s can accommodate 126 passengers, seated in two travel classes. Boeing claims that they are the most fuel efficient single aisle aircraft in production. They have a range of 5,500 kilometres (almost a third more than earlier 737 models), a cruising speed of almost 950 kilometres an hour, and can fly at a maximum altitude of 41,000 feet. “These aircraft will be used in all the provincial capitals on the domestic market, as well as on routes to Ethiopia and Zambia”, Manave said. “They will also fly to Dubai and Mumbai from Nacala”. (A new international airport is under construction in the northern city of Nacala).For his part, Miguel Santos, the director of Boeing for Africa, said this purchase marks the return of LAM to the US company (a “return” because previous purchases by LAM were of Embraer-190s from Brazil and Bombardier Q-400 from Canada). He claimed that with the “New Generation” fuel consumption is 27 per cent less than with the older models of the 737, and it has lower maintenance costs. Santos declared that Boeing was has a 65 per cent share of the African aircraft market. Deputy Transport Minister Manuela Ribeiro encouraged LAM and Boeing to expand their cooperation in the technical field and to train new professionals for the aeronautical industry.