By Na’ilah Ebrahim.
Venâncio Mondlane at a polling station in Maputo on election day, 9 October 2024. Photo: Tom Gould.
Airlink has announced that a flight from Cape Town to Maputo will depart an hour earlier than scheduled for security reasons as post-election violence continues in Mozambique.
A spokesperson for the regional airline told News24 Business that a 16:00 flight from Cape Town International Airport was brought forward by an hour to allow the airline to drop passengers off in Mozambique before returning to OR Tambo Airport the same night.
“It cannot stay overnight in Maputo. We will drop passengers off and then fly with an empty aircraft to OR Tambo,” said the spokesperson.
Another flight from OR Tambo International Airport to Maputo is expected to proceed as scheduled.
Airlink has said that it will continue to communicate with passengers about any delays and disruptions after it cancelled two flights from the Mozambican capital earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines announced on Thursday, 26 December, that it cancelled flights between Johannesburg and Maputo, according to TRT World.
According to Flight Radar, Kenya Airlines also cancelled its flight from Maputo to Nairobi on Friday, while LAM Mozambique Airlines cancelled local flights to Nacala, Nampula, Quelimane, and Beira.