TAAG - Linhas Aéreas de Angola receives its third Dash 8-400
To optimize its operational costs, TAAG - Linhas Aéreas de Angola has initiated a plan to renew its fleet by opting for turboprop engines.
In 2019, the company ordered six Dash 8-400s.
The process of renewing the TAAG - Linhas Aéreas de Angola fleet continues. The Angolan national company took delivery on Monday, January 25, a new Dash 8-400.Registered D2-TFC, and named “Cunene”, the 74-seater aircraft (10 in business class and 64 in economy class), is the third of an order for six units.
The first 2 (MSN 4616/4619) were delivered in July and August 2020. These new aircraft respond to the strategic axes of the company's recovery plan, drawn up in July 2019. “One of the main objectives of our restructuring plan and reform is the company's financial balance. And the financial balance depends, among other things, on the balance of the fleet”, explained the Chairman and CEO of TAAG last August. When they are put into service, they will be assigned as a priority to the home network, which has a dozen lines.
This will allow the Boeing (5 B737 and 8 B777) to be redeployed on African medium-haul routes and international routes. “One of the main goals is to get the Boeing off domestic routes. On domestic connections, we will only use large devices where the occupancy rate justifies it,”added Rui Carreira. The Dash8-400 is also called upon to serve regional destinations close to Luanda, namely Windhoek (Namibia), Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia), Brazzaville (Congo) and Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), and possibly Ponta Negra (Brazil). The carrier thus hopes to make the device the pillar of the reconstruction of its network which has been drastically affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
