TAAG Angola has revealed that Luanda to Madrid is coming. Until now, Angola’s flag carrier has mainly focused on Portuguese-speaking long-haul destinations. But Madrid might not be as unexpected as it seems.
It’ll effectively replace Iberia, which served Luanda between October 2011 and May 2016. Although TAAG’s route isn’t bookable when writing, it is reported that passengers will be able to connect across Iberia’s network over its Madrid hub. It’ll also enable passengers to connect over Luanda to wider Angola, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and more.
More than this, Angola is one of Spain’s most important trading partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, and last year the pair agreed to strengthen political and economic ties. It followed Spain’s Prime Minster visiting Angola in April and the Angolan president visiting Spain in September.
What’s happening?
Although not yet bookable, TAAG Angola will begin Luanda to Madrid on June 23rd. It’ll operate 2x weekly, with northbound flights on Thursdays and Sundays and southbound on Mondays and Fridays. The schedule is as follows, with all times local. They’re pretty similar timings to what Iberia had.
- Luanda to Madrid: DT680, 21:00-05:15+1
- Madrid to Luanda: DT681, 23:55-06:25+1
The 3,561-mile (5,730km) route will utilize 293-seat B777-300ERs. They have 12 fully flat first seats (1-2-1 layout), 56 fully flat business seats (2-3-2), and 225 seats in economy (3-3-3).
It’s part of a bigger picture
Luanda-Madrid point-to-point demand isn’t high. According to booking data, barely 10,000 traveled between the pair in 2019. Still, it was the second-largest unserved market to Europe, behind only London Heathrow.
