Luanda-Lagos service goes daily for TAAG Angola Airlines 

•    Operates Boeing 737-700 aircraft with 120 seats

•    Raises Luanda – Lagos flight frequencies

•     Passengers to get greater availability, flexibility

•    Nigeria: Key destination for corporate segment

•    Lagos is one of Africa’s largest economies

•   Airline’s fleet to add Airbus A220-300, Boeing 787

Business a.m. reporter, with wire feeds

Flight schedules between Nigeria’s Lagos Murtala Muhammed Airport (LOS) and Luanda Quatro de Fevereiro Airport (LAD), Angola are set to go daily from next week, January 8 as TAAG Angola Airlines adds approved frequencies on the service, per sourced wire report by Simple Flying.

The increased frequencies will see the airline flying to Africa’s largest economy by gross domestic product and the continent’s most populated country.

Passengers will benefit from the increased frequencies, TAAG Angola Airlines said as there will now be greater flight availability and flexibility.

“Nigeria is one of the largest economies in Africa, and Lagos a key regional destination, namely for the corporate segment,” the airline said in a statement.

Per Simple Flying, the route between LAD and LOS is served by five weekly flights on a Boeing 737-700 with 120 seats, comprising 12 business and 102 economy class. 

“A positive impact on trade and people mobility between Angola and Nigeria is expected while Luanda is reinforcing its status as an important hub for regional and international connections powered by TAAG Angola Airlines,” said the airline in a statement.

The African carrier also highlighted its recent route network expansions, leveraging connectivity to regional routes with flights to São Tomé Island, Windhoek, Namibia, Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo, and Maputo, Mozambique. “TAAG Angola Airlines is deeply committed to providing quality and convenient services to customers, positioning Angola as a preferred destination or hub for regional and intercontinental connections.”

Ch-aviation data show that TAAG Angola Airlines has 21 aircraft in its fleet: one Airbus A330-300, five Boeing 737-700, one Boeing 737-700 converted freighter, three Boeing 777-200ER, five 777-300ER, and six De Havilland Canada DHC-8 Q400s. On average, an aircraft in its fleet is 14.2 years old.

Furthermore, the airline has several aircraft types on order, with 15 Airbus A220-300 aircraft to be delivered to TAAG Angola Airlines between 2024 and 2025. Interestingly, the airline began announcing deals with aircraft lessors to lease the A220-300s during the Farnborough International Airshow 2022, where it signed up for six A220-300 aircraft from Air Lease Corporation (ALC). During the Paris Air Show in June 2023, the carrier disclosed three separate leases with three different lessors, namely Aviation Capital Group (ACG), Azorra, and Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), for nine Airbus single-aisle jets.

In addition, TAAG Angola Airlines ordered four Boeing 787 aircraft from Boeing in October 2023. At the time, Eduardo Fairen, chief executive officer of TAAG Angola Airlines, said that the 787 suited its search for a “modern, size-wise and efficient equipment, able to progressively replace our current widebody fleet, and provide our customers with an improved flight experience.”

The Airlines’ current flight network

Data from aviation analytics company Cirium, show the African airline served 28 destinations in January 2023, which was reduced to 24 in January 2024, with 14,454 fewer seats on its network. In June 2024, TAAG Angola Airlines will fly to 24 destinations.

This includes two European destinations, namely Lisbon Airport (LIS), Portugal, and Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD), Spain.

In its most recent update to the European Union (EU) Air Safety List (ASL), the European Commission (EC) has continued to allow TAAG Angola Airlines to operate flights to the EU, with the helicopter airline Heli Malongo Airways being the other company not banned from flying to the bloc. However, other Angola-based carriers have been banned by the EC.