“The potential of the province leaves no doubt that this airport is viable” (AIM, 2021), these were the words with which, on November 29, 2021, the then Minister of Transport and Communications, Janfar Abdulai, guaranteed the viability of Chongoene Airport, in Gaza province. Abdulai was speaking at the inauguration of the airport named after the President of the Republic of Mozambique, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi¹, who led the event. The inauguration of the airport was the culmination of work that began in October 2018, when Filipe Nyusi laid the foundation stone for its construction (Presidency, 2018). However, the implementation of this project, the first in Gaza province, has always been wrapped in doubts about its economic and financial viability. It is in this sense that this research was born, with the aim of assessing the degree of use of Filipe Jacinto Nyusi Airport. It was particularly interested in assessing the flow of planes and passengers, taking into account the installed capacity.
The research, which included fieldwork conducted in Gaza, led to the conclusion that, more than two years after its inauguration, the airport named after the President of the Republic has become an authentic “white elephant.” This is the main argument of this research, which shows that the construction of Filipe Jacinto Nyusi Airport was an ill-advised political decision that brought to Gaza what the province needs least to get off the list of one of the poorest in the country. The fieldwork confirmed that despite the fact that building an airport in Gaza was an electioneering agenda of the then Frelimo presidential candidate in the 2014 general election campaign, there is, at least for the time being, no demand to justify the implementation of infrastructure of this nature.
