Luanda – At least 191 passengers were carried on the first two flights on Sunday morning by the national flag carrier - TAAG, on the Luanda/Cabinda/Luanda route, which marked the start of operations of the newly Luanda António Agostinho Neto International Airport (AIAAN).
The Boeing 737-700 aircraft, registration D2 TBJ departed from the country's capital with 92 passengers on board at 8.35am and landed at 9.20am at Maria Mambo Café Airport, in the country's northernmost province.
The flight was awaited by various entities, most notably the local governor, Suzana de Abreu, who was part of the return journey with 99 passengers to Luanda, where the plane arrived shortly after 11am.
The journey to and from Luanda was a calm and expectant one for the passengers, who during the journey spared no effort to express their joy at being among the first to travel from this infrastructure inaugurated one year ago.
It included former football internationals Fabrice Maieco ‘Akwá’ and Manucho Gonçalves, the latter who, in brief statements to ANGOP, highlighted the airport's facilities and size and the trip as ‘spectacular’.
Akwá emphasized that ‘an airport represents the image of any people and, based on that idea, Angola also wants to be on the world's route, having considered it an historic moment for Angolans and called on all citizens to preserve this asset.
After Cabinda, TAAG plans to include the routes in the eastern region (Dundo, Saurimo and Luena) and Soyo into the program in December, and should progressively complete the transfer of the other routes in the first quarter of 2025.
The airport has capacity for more than 15 million passengers a year (five domestic and 10 international) and to date has received cargo flights, a segment whose transport capacity is 130,000 tons of goods a year.
It also includes complementary services such as shops, restaurants and offices, among others.
To make it operational, conditions have been created for public transport access to the new airport, via trains and buses. ACC/VC/DAN/AMP
