According to a report from the Civil Aviation Authority of Mozambique (IACM), to which Lusa had access this Thursday, in 2023, traffic at Mozambique’s airports will grow by 20% to almost two million passengers, half of which will be in Maputo.
According to the document, the global number of air passengers in Mozambique increased from 1,649,901 in 2022 to 1,974,523 last year, while aircraft movements increased by 7% to 60,250 over the same period.
At Maputo International Airport alone, passenger numbers increased by 22% year-on-year to 1,051,868, followed by Nampula with 199,366 (+13%) and Beira with 198,269 (+21%).
Of the total volume of transportation in 2023, domestic air transport accounts for 1,272,263 passengers, which is 11% more than in 2022, with 524,879 passengers carried on regional routes (+46%) and 149,507 passengers on intercontinental routes (+28%).
The IACM report highlights that of the nine operators that operated international air services in Mozambique pre-pandemic, eight are already resuming operations, such as Mozambican LAM, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, SA Airlink, TAP, Qatar, TAAG and Turkish Airlines.
According to the IACM, Mozambique has eight helipads, 16 airports, including three international ones, and more than 330 airfields.
As of the end of last year, the country had 14 operators licensed for commercial air transport, including two that operated scheduled domestic and international flights and nine that operated non-scheduled domestic and regional flights, and 88 registered aircraft.