Ethiopian
Airlines will begin operating domestic flights in Mozambique as from 1 October,
according to Emmanuel Chaves, chairperson of the Mozambican airports company
AdM.
Speaking
at an event during the Maputo International Trade Fair (FACIM), held in
Marracene district, 30 kilometres north of the capital, Chaves said Ethiopian
Airlines would exploit both domestic and international routes based on the
northern airport of Nacala.
Nacala
airport, despite the high standard of its facilities, is usually written off as
an expensive folly, since so far no international companies have expressed any
interest in flying there. Currently the only scheduled flights are by
Mozambique Airlines (LAM), which flies between Maputo and Nacala twice a week.
The
airport, inaugurated by former President Armando Guebuza in 2014, was not
preceded by any serious viability study to establish whether there was a demand
for flights to Nacala. It was built by the Brazilian company Odebrecht, and
Brazilian prosecutors have established that Odebrecht paid a bribe of 900,000
dollars, presumably in connection with the airport. The Mozambican recipients
of this bribe have not yet been named.
But
the decision by Ethiopian Airlines could change the picture. Chaves, cited in
Friday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, said that, with this
development, Nacala Airport “will no longer be a white elephant”.He explained
that the company has set up a subsidiary “Ethiopian Mozambique Airlines”, which
is registered in Mozambique. Based on its Mozambican certification, it will be
able to fly to destinations inside and outside Mozambique.
He
added that a team of senior managers from Ethiopian Airlines is currently in
Mozambique, dealing with the final details to ensure that the flights will
indeed begin in October.Chaves believed that the Ethiopian Airlines operations
in Nacala will make it viable to embark on a major real estate development on
an area of 300 hectares alongside the airport. He added that the Bank of
Mozambique has already agreed to build its northern regional offices in this
“airport city”.Chaves said that ADM is in negotiations with LAM so that the LAM
subsidiary MEX (Mozambique Express) will base its operations in Nacala.
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