The new domestic air carrier in Angola will be able to operate with Q-400 type aircraft produced by Canadian company Bombardier, thereby correcting several years of errors in which Boeing 737-700 aircraft were used for short-haul flights and little demand, said Transport Minister Augusto da Silva Tomás.
The minister, who made the remarks at the end of a working visit to Canada, said that the longstanding mistakes he mentioned had clearly contributed to the airline’s negative financial results.
Tomás, quoted by Angolan state news agency Angop, said that the means and equipment that will drive the business have been identified, and are intended to reduce distances between Angola’s regions, at low competitive prices, while complying with international civil aviation standards.
The minister also said that flagship airline TAAG will lead the consortium providing domestic air transport and said that the consortium will become one of the country’s private air operators.
Last January, China’s Xi’an Aircraft Industry Company, a subsidiary of state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China, announced it had sold two MA-60s to Angola.
MA-60s are short-to-medium-range turbo- prop aircraft certified by the China Civil Aviation Administration in June 2000 and which due to low operating and maintenance costs are popular in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. MDT/Macauhub
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