TAAG Angola Airlines E.P. () is a state-owned airline and flag carrier of Angola. Based in Luanda, the airline operates domestic services within Angola, medium-haul services in Africa and long-haul services to Brazil, Cuba, and Portugal. The airline was originally set up by the government as DTADivisão dos Transportes Aéreos in 1938, rechristened TAAG Angola Airlines in 1973, and gained flag carrier status in 1975. It is now a member of both the International Air Transport Association and the African Airlines Association. The airline uses Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport as its hub.
History
DTADivisão dos Transportes Aéreos (1938–1973)
The origins of the carrier can be traced back to 1937, when the president of Portugal Óscar Carmona asked Joaquim de Almeida Baltazar to create an airline in Angola. In September 1938, DTADivisão dos Transportes Aéreos was formed as a division of the Administration of Railways, Harbours, and Air Transport of Portuguese West Africa. It was owned and run by the government, which authorised the acquisition of three De Havilland Dragon Rapides and two Junkers Ju 52s, although the latter two aircraft were not delivered due to the outbreak of the Second World War. Operations began on 17 July 1940, using the dragon biplanes. The first routes to be operated were founded by the Aero Club of Angola and included two main lines: one running between Luanda and Pointe Noire, having connections with Aeromaritime services to Europe, and the other being Luanda–Benguela–Lobito that was later extended to Moçâmedes. Flights were intermittently discontinued during World War II due to the scarcity of spare parts, but by the end of the war, the airline resumed operations. Two Stinson Reliants bought from the Belgian Congo in 1944 permitted the carrier to resume coastal services. The DC-3 and the Beechcraft Model 18 joined the fleet in 1946. In that year, a new route to Leopoldville was launched. The airline joined the International Air Transport Association in 1951. Also in that year, the company extended the Leopoldville route further east, serving Lourenço Marques, but this destination was later abandoned due to poor financial performance. DTA also operated a route linking Luanda with Lourenço Marques via Livingstone between 1951 and 1952; poor sales prompted the airline to terminate the service. A long route to São Tomé was launched in 1956.
By , the fleet was composed of four Beech 18s, seven DC-3s and three DH.89s. A year later, DTA became the third African airline in ordering the Fokker F-27, with two aircraft acquired. At this time, the company had a route network that was long. The F-27s were incorporated into the fleet in 1962. Served with these brand new aircraft, Windhoek was added to the route network that year.
TAAG Angola Airlines (1973–present)
Following its renaming to TAAGTransportes Aéreos de Angola on 1 October 1973, the airline was reorganised and reconstituted. The company shareholders at the time were the Angolan government (51%), TAP Air Portugal (29%) and ex-DTA employees (20%). Four Boeing 737-200s were ordered in 1974. The same year, a new livery including the Palança Negra was unveiled. Three F-27s and six DC-3s composed the fleet by . Following the rise to power of the communists, that year the country gained independence from Portugal; the airline became Angola's flag carrier in . In , the company took delivery of the first Boeing 737-200. In , the delivery of two Boeing 737-200Cs was blocked by the US State Department; the embargo was lifted two months later following the end of the civil war in the country. Valued at around million, these two aircraft were finally delivered by late that year. In the same year, an ex-Allegheny Airlines Fairchild FH-227 on delivery flight to Suidwes Lugdiens was forced to land at Luanda while flying over Angolan territory. The country seized control of the aircraft, which was later reported to be in service with TAAG, along with an ex-Argentine Air Force Caravelle and two ex-THY Turkish Airlines F-27s. Three Yak-40s entered the fleet in 1977, along with other Soviet-built aircraft; late this year, an ex-British Caledonian Airways Boeing 707-320C was sold to TAAG. In 1978, TAAG acquired two used F27s from Fokker, and another Boeing 737 was ordered a year later. A Lockheed L-100-20, registration D2-FAF, was involved in an accident while landing at São Tomé.
By , the carrier had a fleet of three Boeing 707-320Cs, three Boeing 737-200Cs, six Fokker F27s —four -600s and two -200s—, three L-100s —two -20s and one -30— and four Yakovlev Yak-40s to serve a number of domestic destinations, plus Brazzaville, São Tome, Lagos, Maputo, Lisbon, Moscow, Paris and Rome. The company was reorganised again during the year. On 8 June, a Yak-40 (registration D2-TYC) crashed near Matala killing all 19 occupants on board. On 16 May 1981, the crew of four on board a Lockheed L-100-20 Hercules, registration D2-EAS, lost their lives in an accident at Mongua. During the early 1980s, the fleet also included a small number of Antonov An-26s that started being phased out. One of these examples (D2-TAB) was involved in an accident at Monte Bibala on 29 November 1982; 15 people lost their lives. Another fatal accident took place almost a year later, on 8 November 1983, when the crash of a Boeing 737-200 (D2-TBN) at Lubango resulted in 130 fatalities. Serious financial difficulties were uncovered during 1984. In the mid-1980s, an L-100 Hercules was withdrawn from service and two Ilyushin Il-62Ms were acquired for operations to Cuba. The carrier phased in the first of these two aircraft in 1988. On 21 July 1988, a Boeing 707 freighter owned by the airline crashed away from Murtala Muhammed International Airport; crewmembers lost their lives in the accident.
At , TAAG Angola Airlines had TAAG-Air Charter and TAAG Aviacao Ligeira as associated companies; the number of employees was 5,770. At this time, the fleet consisted of Boeing 707-320s ( -320B and -320Cs), Boeing 737-200s, Boeing 737-200C, Lockheed L100-200, Fokker F.27s ( -100, -400M, -500 and -600s) and Yakovlev Yak-40s. The carrier network comprised domestic points in Angola served from Luanda plus international flights to Berlin-Schonefeld, Brazzaville, Havana, Kinshasa, Lisbon, Lusaka, Maputo, Moscow, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sal and Sao Tome. On 31 January 1995, a Boeing 727-200, registration D2-TJB, crashed on landing at Huambo; the landing gear was torn off following the aircraft aquaplaning off the runway as a result of a long landing. There were no serious injuries among the occupants of the aircraft. TAAG bought a Boeing 747-300 Combi from Singapore Airlines in 1997.
In , TAAG Angola Airlines ordered three Boeing 777-200ERs and four Boeing 737-700s, it also took options on one and two more of these aircraft, respectively. The ordered aircraft were initially scheduled for delivery in . The new aircraft were aimed at replacing the ageing Boeing 747-300s and Boeing 737-200s. The order was partially fulfilled in November 2006, when two Boeing 777-200ERs and three 737-700s were delivered. One of these Boeing 777-200ERs established a record-breaking distance for the delivery of the type, when it flew between Seattle and Luanda in 16 hours and 47 minutes. In , the Boeing 747-300 fleet was retired from service. In the same year, the airline received its first newly acquired Boeing 777-300ER, out of two ordered in October 2009; TAAG became the first African carrier in purchasing and operating this type of aircraft. Three additional 293-seater Boeing 777-300ERs were ordered in , in a deal worth million.
European Union ban and subsequent restructuring (2007) +TAAG Angola Airlines EU ban evolution since October 2006Date of release of ban listBan statusRefs|-
The European Union (EU), in its fourth update of the list of blacklisted airlines released in , banned TAAG aircraft from entering European airspace due to safety concerns. At the same time, the United Kingdom barred TAAG from flying into its territory, just before the airline was about to start services to London-Gatwick; in retaliation, Angola banned British Airways from landing within the country's borders. The carrier announced it was losing million a month because of the ban. To continue operating flights to Europe, TAAG wet-leased a Boeing 747-400 from South African Airways (SAA). Following the EU ban, in November 2008, the entire TAAG board was replaced; a new board was appointed with the objective of turning the carrier around, particularly of getting it removed from the EU blacklist. At the time, according to Transport Minister Augusto da Silva Tomás, the company lost about US$70 million (€55.6 million) over 14 months. The turnaround plan included staff reductions in the 5,000-strong workforce. In 2008, TAAG launched a new route to Beijing.
It was announced in May 2009 that TAAG had passed IATA inspections. In July, TAAG received permission to operate flights solely to Portugal and only using its three Boeing 777s. This partial liftting of the ban made TAAG the only Angolan airline permitted to fly to the EU. After nearly two years of being banned from EU airspace, TAAG deployed its own aircraft on the European corridor immediately. TAAG then ended the South African Airways Boeing 747-400 wet lease. In November 2009, the European Commission gave additional permission for TAAG's four Boeing 737-700s to fly in EU airspace. That month, TAAG restarted services to Havana; the flight in particular serves numerous Cuban doctors and teachers residing in Angola. In late March 2010, restrictions on TAAG operations were again relaxed following the announcement that the airline could fly its Boeing 777-200ERs and 737-700s to all European airports.
In December 2010, two engine incidents involving TAAG's Boeing 777-200ERs forced the carrier to ground the three aircraft of the type.
In , the ban was partially lifted, but some aircraft were still prevented from flying in European airspace. An updated version of the list of airlines banned in the EU released in early still included part of TAAG's fleet; however, five Boeing 777s and four Boeing 737-700s were allowed to operate in the EU. There were few changes to the aircraft allowed to fly into the EU in the 11 following lists released from to June 2018 (see table).
On 17 April 2019, the ban was completely lifted, allowing TAAG to fly all its aircraft to any EU country.
Emirates management agreement (2014–2017) In late , a ten-year management concession agreement between Emirates and the Government of Angola was signed; the deal also covered flight codesharing and the coordination of frequent flier programmes. In the first full year of operation under the agreement, annual losses dropped from $175m to $5m; the Ernst & Young-audited figures for January to December 2016 were approved at the airline's Board meeting on 9 March 2017.
The contract was unilaterally terminated by Emirates in 2017 after the Emirati carrier found difficulties in expatriating around million in revenues from Angola.
Post-COVID expansion and profitability In September 2020, TAAG resumed domestic, and later, international services, after the cancelled operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial flights were flown using a pair of newly delivered De Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprops, the first from an order of six to eventually join the fleet, with long-haul flights operated by the airline's 777s. In 2023, an order for 15 Airbus A220s was placed to replace the carrier's 737-700s and allow for regional expansion. The long-haul fleet was also overhauled with the announcement later that year of orders for four Boeing 787 aircraft, consisting of a pair of -9s in addition to a pair of larger -10s, which would make TAAG the first African airline to operate the 787-10.