Angola’s National Carrier To Launch Direct Flight to Guangzhou

The Angolan national carrier is weighing up plans to start direct flights to mainland China as it aggressively finds ways to cut down on loses.

According to details by Jornal de Angola, the airline is studying the introduction of a direct service between the capital, Luanda, and Guangzhou in China.

TAAG Linhas Aereas de Angola Chairman Clovis Rosa told the state-run newspaper the proposed route addition was part of a strategy to trim losses at the airline to about U$90 million in 2026 from U$123 million last year.

Under TAAG’s 2024-2029 strategic plan, the aim is for the southern African carrier to reach annual revenues of U$1.3 billion by 2028-2029. In 2025, the airline was expected to achieve over U$450 million.

“We expect to be a net profitable airline by 2028. It is a work in progress,” said , chief commercial officer.

“We started with increasing network depth in key regional markets, providing connectivity in the triangle between Angola, South Africa and Nigeria.

“We’re talking about 400 million inhabitants for which we know we have the opportunity to provide more service,” he said.

TAAG has boosted frequencies on its Luanda to Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Lagos services.

Outside this triangle, TAAG is targeting destinations up to four hours from Luanda to create a regional spoke structure into its hub.

“Within a 3–4-hour radius of Angola you have 1.4 billion inhabitants,” Carneiro said.TAAG has already grown its transfer traffic from 14% to 26% of its total this year and the target is to reach 40% by 2029.