Angola reopens its skies to Portugal, Brazil and South Africa
On January 16, Angola suspended its air links with Portugal, Brazil and South Africa, in response to new variants of Covid-19.
Two months later, the government lifted the restriction allowing TAAG Angola Airlines to regain its main markets.
As of Thursday, March 11, regular commercial flights are once again authorized from Angola to Portugal, Brazil and South Africa. This was announced that same day at a press conference by the Minister of State and Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic of Angola. According to Adão de Almeida, the lifting of the suspension of air links with these three countries aims to allow the return of people stranded in the three states. For his part, the Minister of Transport said that airlines are currently only allowed to make 1 weekly flight to these different countries. Ricardo de Abreu nevertheless hinted that the situation could evolve according to the needs. The closure of the Angolan skies in Portugal, Brazil and South Africa, in force since January 16, aimed to prevent the entry into Angola of new strains of Covid-19 (Brazilian, South African and English variants).
During these last two months, Angola was therefore no longer directly connected to Sao Tome and Principe, Ethiopia, Namibia, Mozambique, France, Germany, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.. A sigh of relief for TAAG Angola Airlines With the lifting of the measure, TAAG Angola Airlines should increase its flights to Lisbon where it currently deploys its 777 fleet. On this corridor, it is in fierce competition with TAP Air Portugal which affects an Airbus A330 -900 His return to São Paulo is also expected. On September 25, 2020, it resumed its flights between the Angolan capital and the Brazilian city, before suspending again last January. South Africa is also one of the carrier’s main markets. Before the crisis, Angolan TAAG offered direct routes to Johannesburg and Cape Town. It regularly competes on this corridor with CemAir. Returning to these three markets, we therefore expect a gradual improvement in the results of the company - which carried an average of 1.5 million passengers per year, before the crisis. As a result of the suspension of its international flights for 6 months last year, the carrier recorded a loss in revenue of nearly 270 million dollars, said the managing director Rui Carreira recently.
