Ricardo de Abreu presented to the press the level of execution of the works on the new airport, which began in 2013 as a public-private partnership, dissolved in 2017, when the State took over the project as a public investment, with funding from the China of 1.4 billion dollars.
The government official considered that the investment cost, of close to three billion dollars, "is not much" for the size and relevance of the project, in terms of return to the national economy.
According to the minister, certification should be awarded at the end of October this year, also announcing, for the same month, the launch of an international competition for the long-term concession for the management of the New Luanda International Airport (NAIL).
"We are currently preparing the pieces for the launch of the tender for the concession of the new international airport in Luanda (...), to tell international partners how much we expect to receive in revenue from this airport", he stressed.
The Angolan Minister of Transport stressed that the biggest challenge relates to human capital, highlighting the creation, within the new airport, of a national civil aviation academy.
"We have no doubt that the biggest challenge we have today is human capital. We have spoken repeatedly, although today we are counting on a team of national specialist technicians, who have contributed to this progress, we have systematically spoken about the need and the opportunity to create a new generation of aeronautics, across the entire spectrum of the sector", he said.
NAIL, located in the district of Bom Jesus, municipality of Icolo and Bengo, located 42 kilometers from the center of Luanda, is located in a total area of 75 square kilometers, designed to accommodate critical category F aircraft (Airbus – A380 ), will have a capacity of 15,000,000 passengers per year, of which 10,000,000 will be international passengers and the remainder domestic.
With two parallel runways, aircraft parking apron, maintenance apron, loading apron, isolation plate, it has been designed to handle an annual cargo volume of 130 thousand tons.
For the cargo segment, there are already operators and forwarders who have expressed interest, namely TAAG, DHL, FedEx, Etiopian Cargo, Tuskish Cargo.
Regarding the 4 de Fevereiro International Airport, in the center of Luanda, the head of Transport said that it will remain operational, for special, shorter, executive flights, non-commercial air transport activities, and can also be used for maintenance and training.
