The Mozambican government, through Airports of Mozambique (ADM), hopes to persuade UAE airline Emirates to fly to the country, in the light of an understanding with the Dubai National Air Transport Association (DNATA), a company that provides check-in and cargo handling services at the Dubai airport, and which is a Emirates shareholder.
The government, in the shape of Airports of Mozambique and Airlines of Mozambique (LAM), which are majority shareholders in MAHS, the company that provides handling services at Mozambican airports, will, within two months, sign a contract of sale of its shares to DNATA, which will in turn help the country attract international airlines.
The announcement was made in Maputo on Tuesday by Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Airports of Mozambique, Emanuel Chaves, in a business environment meeting with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.
“We came to the decision that we should attract a strategic partner to be an element of attraction for airlines to come to the country. We are, at the moment, negotiating with DNATA to close the agreement for the sale of our shares in MAHS so that they can participate in our strategy to develop new routes,” he said.
According to Chaves, Emirates Airlines has the ability to put the country on the international route, linking to an important hub for traffic from Asia and America and facilitating access to “destination Mozambique” at a more competitive price.
Emirates is one of the top 20 airlines in the world in terms of revenue, passengers transported and kilometres travelled, and has become the largest airline in the Middle East in terms of revenue, fleet size and passengers transported.
