Luanda – An Angolan airlines (TAAG)’s Boeing 747 airplane took off Thursday morning from Luanda to Havana, Cuba, thus inaugurating its new monthly route to that Latin American country.
 

Initially scheduled for Wednesday night, the flight only took off Thursday for operational reasons, according to a source from the air company. Aboard the plane were high ranking officials of the Transports Ministry and members of TAAG managing board, representatives of travel agencies and journalists.

With a total capacity for 265 passengers, the airplane will travel once a month to the Cuban capital, taking off in Luanda at 09:30 pm, with a stop-over in Sal (Cape-Verde) at 02:00 am, on its way to destination, arriving at 08:00 am, before taking off back to Angola a few hours later.
 

The opening of the operation to Cuba, according to the company’s managing board spokesperson, Rui Carreira, was intended to reinforce Angola’s air connection with Latin America and provide a better service to the large Cuban community based in the country.

It is also intended to serve Angolans and African Portuguese Speaking Community citizens living in Cuba.
 

The flight, according to the source, has the benefit of bringing the fare down from the previous Usd 2,500 to 3,000 to 1,600.
 

TAAG started on November 9 this year operating new international routes, flying to Cape Town (South Africa) and launched a joint operation with the Mozambican airline (LAM) shuttling between Luanda and Maputo.
 

Other earlier routes cover Lisbon (Portugal), São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Dubai (Arab Emirates Arab United ), Beijing (China), Brazzaville (Congo), São Tomé and Príncipe, Kinshasa (DR Congo), Douala (Cameroon), Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia), Bangui (RCA), Sal and Praia (Cape Verde), Johannesburg (South Africa).