According to information available on the website of the Consulate of Portugal in Luanda, a TAP flight should be operated this Friday, June 26, at 10:45 pm, and the information must be confirmed with the Portuguese airline.
Another flight by the same company is scheduled for July 1, at 11 am, the consulate also says, forwarding all information on reservations and eventual ticket changes to TAP.
The consulate clarifies that "there is no ongoing repatriation / evacuation operation for citizens residing in Angola", with flights back to Portugal being the responsibility of the airlines and advising interested parties to contact travel agencies and aviation companies.
TAAG will also operate Luanda-Lisbon connections (only return) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, on the 30th and 2nd of July, according to information provided by travel agencies that are selling the flights.
Angola closed all its borders on March 20, but has authorized some humanitarian flights for the return of Angolan citizens who are abroad or for the departure of foreigners who wish to return to their countries of origin.
A joint executive decree published on June 12 mentions the 30th of this month as the expected date for the resumption of international travel to and from Luanda, but subject to confirmation by health authorities.
However, a new decree published, sets a new health fence in Luanda until 10 July, due to the "worrying situation" of the pandemic, which seems to make the possibility of resuming commercial flights on the scheduled date more distant.
Questioned by Lusa, a TAP source says that the Portuguese carrier is prepared to operate commercial flights "as soon as it has authorization [from the Angolan authorities] for that purpose".
The resumption of the operation was announced for June 15, but the extension of the restrictive measures reduced the expectations of TAP, which has been carrying out special flights once a week, on average, taking cargo from Lisbon to Luanda, and returning from the capital with passengers. when it's allowed.
If the air border reopened on the scheduled date and international travel was resumed from June 30, TAP envisaged two flights a week starting in July, changing to four starting in August, "subject to demand and demand. restrictions imposed on air transport "by states, the same source said.
As for TAAG, "it is only focused, for now, on humanitarian flights", a source from the Angolan carrier told Lusa, stressing that "there are other factors to consider" such as the evolution of covid-19.
