At a press conference this Thursday at AAIAN, where airport and transport entities and the national airline TAAG, the first to debut with passenger flights, participated, it was assured that issues of mobility and services are being taken care of so that, by March 31st of next year, international flights can transfer to the new airport.
For now, as of Sunday, domestic TAAG flights will begin to be operated at AIAAN, 40 kilometers away from Luanda, starting with connections to Cabinda with four daily frequencies.
António Pombal (ATO), the general director of ATO, the airport's temporary operator, rejected that there is resistance from international companies to move to the new airport, explaining that it is a gradual transfer.
"What exists is a process of transferring the operations we are carrying out and this requires identifying the risks to be mitigated, the impacts to be taken into consideration, certification conditions and quality of service that we will provide to the passenger", he explained.
Among the conditions to be ensured, he highlighted supply, mobility, service, accommodation, "a series of elements that are preponderant for the decisions of companies" whose decision centers are in other countries.
The manager also spoke about changing codes and other processes that need to be taken care of, remembering that a decree from the Ministry of Transport determines that all companies must be operating in AAIAN until March 31st, adding that all air carriers participated in the simulations.
The executive president of the flag company TAAG also denied that there is resistance from other operators to the AIAAN.
"The aviation business is phases, what is good for TAAG is good for others, the standards are the same, the standards are international, what TAAG has to comply with, others also have to comply with, let's lubricate the machine so that everyone finds this airport in the best conditions", said Nelson Oliveira.
As for existing services, Antonio Pombal said that they are being installed progressively, with more proposals currently than the space available.
"We are seeing who has the conditions to activate at the airport, as we don't have many spaces," he said, indicating that a food space will be open at the start of domestic flights, and a hotel is under construction in the area with capacity for 350 rooms.
"This is one of the reasons for the gradual transfer, we will have to speed up some processes", he admitted.
All service providers operating at the airport will have a classification, defining the quality of service they must provide and "if they do not reach these levels, corrective measures will be adopted", he said.
According to Antonio Pombal, the ATO does not yet have a date for leaving the new airport.
"I can't say how long it will last", he said, saying that the entity was created to transfer all activity from the current 4 de Fevereiro Airport to AIAAN and it was necessary to create an operator to ensure this process, and a tender was launched to the concession of the new airport which, according to Pombal, will be in a decisive phase.
As for mobility, public transport connections will be reinforced, with the airport accessible by road and rail.
The Luanda Railway (CFL) will operate with 12 daily frequencies and has a transport capacity of 700 passengers, and the issuing of 'corporate' passes for frequent users has already started.
The president of the CFL, Manuel Kandakanda, said that the fares (5000 kwanzas for the Expresso trip) were defined based on prices paid in other countries in the region such as South Africa.
On the other hand, he highlighted that the branch, like others, "constitutes a source of business for the company", although rail transport is not profitable.
"We operate a model of complementarity with other modes of transport, the investment cannot be replaced with passenger transport", he stressed, highlighting that "without subsidy, it is necessary to do "immeasurable gymnastics" to meet the requirements of the train to the airport.
In the case of buses, 35 from the Luanda Urban Collective Transport Company (TCUL) with capacity for 61 passengers will circulate, connecting AAIAN, located in the province of Icolo and Bengo, to ten destinations where the main population clusters in the province of Luanda are located.
