By Mohamed Elashi | Euronews
Published on 14/09/2026 – 20:44 GMT+2
Turkish Airlines has permanently terminated its Luanda route, marking another setback for Angola’s newly constructed international airport, which continues to struggle with low passenger numbers.
The Istanbul-based carrier removed Luanda from its future schedule earlier this month, along with Juba, Kinshasa, Libreville, and Lusaka, following the suspension of these services through October 24.
Initially, Turkish Airlines described the suspension as temporary when announced in April, citing rising fuel costs. The airline previously operated a triangular service through Kinshasa rather than offering a direct connection, though it provided Luanda passengers access to destinations across Europe, Asia, and beyond via Istanbul.
This follows a broader trend of international carriers reducing or eliminating service to Luanda. Brussels Airlines ended its Luanda route on March 25, 2025, as part of a restructuring within the Lufthansa Group, redirecting passengers to Lufthansa’s direct Frankfurt–Luanda flights.
TAAG Angola Airlines suspended its Madrid route—codeshared with Iberia—in January 2024 and subsequently removed a planned return from its schedule. Iberia has maintained its suspension of flights to Luanda since 2016, opting instead to codeshare with TAAG starting in 2022. That partnership has since ended.
South African Airways (SAA) now only places its code on TAAG-operated flights.
New Airport Faces Ongoing Challenges
These departures coincide with ongoing difficulties at Angola’s Dr. António Agostinho Neto International Airport, located approximately 45 kilometers from central Luanda. Since its inauguration in November 2023, the airport has struggled to meet the expectations set by government officials.
Constructed by Chinese state-owned company AVIC and designed to handle up to 15 million passengers annually, the airport served just 756,028 passengers throughout 2025, according to figures from its temporary operator, ATO.
By February 24 of this year, cumulative passenger numbers since the first domestic flight in November 2024 reached 1,090,861, including 444,212 international travelers.
The complete transition of services from the old Quatro de Fevereiro airport concluded on March 1, over two years after the new facility opened, when South African carrier Airlink relocated its Johannesburg flights.
In December 2025, ATO’s Director of Planning and Quality, Vissolela Chivunda, stated that the airport anticipated serving around 4 million passengers in 2026.
Luanda continues to receive service from TAP Air Portugal, Air France, Lufthansa, Royal Air Maroc, Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Airlink, and TAAG, as well as Compagnie Africaine d’Aviation, which launched two weekly flights from Kinshasa on August 21.
