Valentine’s Day start for new Maputo service

Airlink has added regional muscle following a joint venture deal with Mozambique’s privately owned TTA Airline. Airlink has bought 49% of the airline to form TTA Airlink which will launch daily flights between Maputo and Johannesburg on February 14. The service will operate an Avro RJ85 leased from Airlink and the network will be expanded over the next few weeks to include flights from Maputo to Beira, Tete and Nampula. Airlink Cargo MD Alwyn Rautenbach told FTW that three flights a week would be added to Tete in due course, to be followed by a daily flight between Maputo and Beira. Airlink MD Rodger Foster, quoted in Business Day, said the two airlines had been in discussions for three years but could only press ahead with their planned joint venture once the bilateral air policy agreement between the two countries had been expanded to include a second carrier from both countries. Previously Johannesburg- Maputo was served solely by LAM, Mozambique’s flag carrier The new service is good news for cargo, says Rautenbach, with the aircraft offering around 1.5 ton capacity. “Tete and Nampula are industrial areas and therefore provide good freight opportunities.”