Luanda will be ‘key’ in Chinese a project, involving the Governments of Angola and China, to establish two intercontinental air logistics hubs, according to China Lucky Aviation (CLCA).
CLCA, which operates from a special logistics zone in Hunan province, signed this week a USD 200 million annual agreement with Angolan airline TAAG to transport cargo from Changsa (China) to Africa and South America.
The bi-weekly Changsha – Luanda – São Paulo route starts operating this week and to meet the contract, which provides for the use of TAAG planes on a ‘charter’ basis, the company will add two new Boeing 777, increasing to 10 of these aircraft.
Tongxi Li, general representative of CLCA, which has strategic partnerships with more than 20 airlines worldwide, stressed that the agreement will generate more than 200 jobs at Luanda’s airports.
In a statement, CLCA added it is working with TAAG, together with the governments of the two countries, to build two intercontinental air logistics hubs for passengers and cargo with Angola as a key country.
The executive chairman of TAAG, Eduardo Soria, underlined that this long-term agreement “will put Luanda and Angola on the path of new intercontinental and logistics relations” in the post-covid world and is essentially oriented towards cargo.
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In addition to being an important agreement for the two countries, it will also be “a decisive factor for the new Luanda airport, which will start operating next year” and an opportunity to put Africa on the map of international cargo traffic.
Initially, operations will focus on transport of different types of cargo, from clothing to logistics material, with an estimated movement of around 200 or 300 tons per week, but the agreement also covers ‘charter’ passenger flights.
The deal marks the return of TAAG to China and opens the possibility of new markets in South and Central America, in addition to Brazil, as well as in other Chinese cities, namely Hong Kong, Chengdu Tianfu, Guangzhou, Chengdu Shuangliu, Shanghai Hongqiao and Beijing. Possible additional destinations are India, sub-Saharan African countries and Europe.
