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The national airline TAAG has canceled flights to Madrid, ending a route inaugurated with much fanfare in June 2022. The management of the route has been characterized as “a case of disastrous, harmful, and whimsical management,” according to Pedro Castro, director of SkyExpert. Based on an estimated loss of 100,000 USD per flight, maintaining the connection for a year and a half, with two flights per week, could result in a deficit of up to 16 million USD.
The last flight from Luanda to Madrid is scheduled for January 13, with a return on the 14th. Bookings indicate that flights will resume in May. TAAG has not provided any further information at this time.
The route, created eight months after the arrival of the administration of Eduardo Soria, was closed one month after the replacement of Soria by Nelson Oliveira and Ana Major by António dos Santos Domingos.
Pedro Castro highlights the high costs of the route, low fares, and the cannibalization of TAAG’s more profitable natural market, Portugal-Angola. He points out that the average fare for Luanda-Madrid was at the level of a domestic flight, but with much higher operational costs.
The decision to close the route is seen as a measure to contain losses and redirect resources to more strategic routes.
