The story
DTA – Divisão 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, DTA – Divisão 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 March 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 700-mile (1,100 km) long route to São Tomé was launched in 1956.
By April 1960 (1960-04), 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 3,300 miles (5,300 km) 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 TAAG – Transportes Aéreos de Angola on 1 October 1973, the airline was reorganised and reconstituted. The company's 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 March 1975 (1975-03). Following the rise to power of the communists, that year the country gained independence from Portugal; the airline became Angola's flag carrier in October. In November, the company took delivery of the first Boeing 737-200. In January 1976 (1976-01), 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 US$18 million, these two aircraft were finally delivered by late April that year. In February 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 March 1980 (1980-03), 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 20 kilometres (12 mi) away from Murtala Muhammed International Airport; six crewmembers lost their lives in the accident.
At March 1990 (1990-03), 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 six Boeing 707-320s (one -320B and five -320Cs), four Boeing 737-200s, one Boeing 737-200C, one Lockheed L100-200, six Fokker F.27s (one -100, one -400M, one -500 and three -600s) and two Yakovlev Yak-40s. The carrier's network comprised 18 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 July 2005 (2005-07), 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 July 2006 (2006-07). 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 12,860 kilometres (6,940 nmi; 7,990 mi) between Seattle and Luanda in 16 hours and 47 minutes. In March 2011 (2011-03), the Boeing 747-300 fleet was retired from service. In June 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 April 2012 (2012-04), in a deal worth US$895 million.
European Union ban and subsequent restructuring (2007)
The European Union (EU), in its fourth update of the list of blacklisted airlines released in July 2007 (2007-07), 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 US$5 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.
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In December 2010, two engine incidents involving TAAG's Boeing 777-200ERs forced the carrier to ground the three aircraft of the type.
In April 2012 (2012-04), 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 December 2012 (2012-12) 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 July 2013 (2013-07) 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 September 2014 (2014-09), 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 US$340 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.
In April 2023, the airline signed a codeshare agreement with Brazilian low-cost carrier Gol Linhas Aéreas, adding TAAG's airline code to 13 Gol routes and Gol's code to the São Paulo-to-Luanda route, enabling further connections to TAAG's African destinations. In May 2023, the airline released its financial performance for the previous year, stating a profit of 460,000,000 kwanzas, or roughly US$800,000.
February 2024 marked the start of a new era for the airline, as it began operations from the new Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport, initially operating cargo flights to Lagos, Brazzaville and Johannesburg. The new airport is reported to have cost over $3 billion and will become the airline's hub for both passenger and cargo traffic; the first passenger flights, to Cabinda, launched on November 10, 2024 using the Dash 8-Q400s, with further domestic rotations transferring in December. The first flights from the new airport were operated using a Boeing 737-800BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter) cargo aircraft, delivered to the airline in December 2023, followed soon after by the addition of a larger Boeing 747-400F, on a long-term lease from Network Airline Management, with a capacity of 120,000 kg. The cargo division was very successful for TAAG and greatly contributed to the airline's profitability, with CEO Eduardo Fairen Soria saying "We have very strong traffic in the cargo space... we want to develop this service with larger aircraft". This strength was reflected in the airline's 2022 financial report citing a revenue of US$67 million, with the potential to grow even further with the move to the new airport, which has the capacity to accommodate 50,000 tons of cargo each year.
TAAG took delivery of its first 137-seater A220 in September 2024. This was the first planned step in doubling the fleet size to over 40 aircraft. The airline is looking to boost its foreign exchange income due to its heavy reliance on foreign currency. In November 2025, the airline phased in its first Boeing 787-10; the induction of a second aircraft of the type occurred a month later.
From Wikipedia’s article on TAAG Angola Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4