Turkish Airlines abandons Luanda route as Angola’s new airport draws limited traffic

Turkish Airlines has permanently removed Luanda from its schedule, joining other carriers that have reduced or ended service to Angola’s capital. Euronews reports that the new Dr António Agostinho Neto International Airport handled 756,028 passengers in 2025, well below its annual capacity of 15 million.

Turkish Airlines has permanently ended its Luanda service, according to Euronews, making it the latest international carrier to withdraw from Angola’s capital since the country opened a new airport in 2023. The Istanbul-based airline also removed Juba, Kinshasa, Libreville and Lusaka from its future schedule after suspending those services through 24 October.

The airline initially presented the move as temporary when it announced the suspensions in April, citing fuel costs. Its Luanda operation used a triangular route through Kinshasa rather than a direct flight, but provided passengers with connections through Istanbul to destinations in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

Other airlines have also cut back their Luanda operations. Brussels Airlines ended its service on 25 March 2025 during a Lufthansa Group restructuring, directing passengers to Lufthansa’s direct Frankfurt–Luanda flights. Angola’s TAAG suspended its Madrid route, which was codeshared with Iberia, in January 2024 and later removed a planned restart. Iberia’s own suspension of Luanda flights, in place since 2016, was not reversed; the airline had instead codeshared with TAAG since 2022.

The departures have occurred as Dr António Agostinho Neto International Airport struggles to become the regional hub envisaged by the Angolan government. Located about 45 kilometres from central Luanda, the facility was built by Chinese state-owned company AVIC and designed to handle up to 15 million passengers annually.

Figures from the airport’s temporary operator, ATO, show that it handled 756,028 passengers during 2025. By 24 February this year, total passenger numbers since the first domestic flight in November 2024 had reached 1,090,861, including 444,212 international passengers. The complete transfer from the former Quatro de Fevereiro airport was finished on 1 March, when Airlink moved its Johannesburg service to the new facility.

Euronews reported that ATO’s Director of Planning and Quality, Vissolela Chivunda, said in December 2025 that the airport expected approximately four million passengers in 2026. Luanda continues to be served by airlines including TAP Air Portugal, Air France, Lufthansa, Royal Air Maroc, Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Airlink and TAAG, while Compagnie Africaine d’Aviation began twice-weekly Kinshasa flights on 21 August.