Maputo, Mozambique — Less than five months after starting exploiting a new intercontinental route, Mozambican Airlines (LAM) has suspended its flight from Maputo to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Behind the decision, announced during a news conference in Maputo on Wednesday, is the 669,000 US dollar loss that the company had incurred on the route up to December.

Revealing the decision, Aderito Macaba, the Commercial Director of LAM, said that the results obtained "are below expectations".

By December, the company had only transported 804 passengers on the weekly flights, which brought it 229,000 US dollars.

This figure was nowhere near enough to offset its 898,000 dollar direct operational costs, and instead it posted the 669,000 dollar loss.

This figure does not include indirect costs resulting from preparatory activities and other operations that preceded the introduction of the Maputo/Dubai flights.

"After four months of operation, the results recorded by the company are below expectations and estimates both for passengers and for cargo", said Macaba.

He thought that LAM's failure to carve a niche in the Gulf region was because trade relations between Mozambique and the UAE are still at an early stage, and because a project to send Mozambican migrant workers to the UAE failed to materialise.

Macaba also tried to blame the devaluation of the metical against the dollar, and the increase in the price of jet fuel.

But perhaps the main reasons are that the company is not aggressive enough, and has difficulty competing against larger companies such as South African Airlines, Saudi Airlines, and the Emirates Airlines which, apart from being cheaper, also offer better services.