TAAG Angola Airlines, the state-owned carrier of the Republic of Angola, announced that it will be wet leasing an Airbus A330 from Portugal’s Hi Fly to support its Luanda (LAD) to Lisbon (LIS) operations.
According to a press statement released by TAAG Angola Airlines, the aircraft will be deployed on TAAG’s Luanda-Lisbon-Luanda route for a period of three months from June 15, 2022.
The Luanda-based carrier, also known as Linhas Aéreas de Angola, said: “In this type of contract, Hi Fly will be responsible for providing the aircraft, and the complete crew, guaranteeing the maintenance and insurance, and being compensated by TAAG accordingly to the number of hours operated by the aircraft.”
“This decision is aligned with the ongoing maintenance on TAAG´s international fleet, namely the Boeing 777-300 ER model. Globally, this strategy allows the continuity and regular basis of the Luanda-Lisbon connection one of the greater demands,” the airline added.
TAAG’s fleet, which serves both passenger and air cargo services, consists of aircraft types such as the Boeing 777-300 ER (five), and Boeing 777-200ER (three), as well as the Boeing 737-700 (four) and De Havilland Dash 8-Q400 (six), according to fleet data published on the airline’s website and planespotters.net.
According to TAAG’s statement, the agreement with Hi Fly is a “collaborative solution” that will allow the carrier to meet the demand on what it refers to as “a key, higher traffic route”.
Today, TAAG operates flights to 14 domestic and 12 international destinations including daily flights between Luanda and Lisbon.
Prior to TAAG’s ACMI agreement with Hi Fly, the airline announced temporary schedule changes to some of its routes, which included a change to the departure time of flight DT 650, its Luanda-Lisbon schedule. The airline attributed the change to ongoing runway improvements at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport, Angola’s main international airport.