Turkish Airlines has permanently dropped Luanda from its flight network, adding to a growing list of international carriers that have pulled back from Angola’s capital since the opening of its new airport.
Image used for illustrative purposes/By: UOzelArchive/Getty Images
The Istanbul-based airline removed Luanda from its future schedule earlier this month, after previously suspending the route until 24 October. The airline had initially described the suspension as temporary, citing rising fuel costs.
Luanda was one of five African destinations dropped by Turkish Airlines, alongside Juba, Kinshasa, Libreville and Lusaka.
The airline had operated its Luanda service via Kinshasa rather than as a direct flight. The connection nevertheless gave travellers from Angola access to Turkish Airlines’ extensive network through Istanbul, including onward routes to Europe, Asia and other destinations.
New airport has struggled to attract passengers
The route cuts come as Luanda’s Dr António Agostinho Neto International Airport continues to struggle to attract the passenger numbers originally envisaged.
The airport, located about 45km from central Luanda, was inaugurated in November 2023 and was designed to handle up to 15 million passengers a year.
In 2025, however, it handled just 756,028 passengers, according to figures from its temporary operator, ATO.
The airport’s passenger numbers have increased since then, but remain well below its intended capacity. By 24 February 2026, more than 1 million passengers had passed through the airport since domestic flights began operating there in November 2024. This included 444,212 international passengers.
The transfer of flights from Luanda’s former Quatro de Fevereiro airport was only completed in March 2026, when South African carrier Airlink moved its Johannesburg services to the new airport.
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Several airlines have scaled back Luanda services
Turkish Airlines is not the only international carrier to have reduced its presence in Luanda.
Brussels Airlines ended its Luanda service in March 2025 as part of a wider restructuring within the Lufthansa Group. Passengers were instead directed towards Lufthansa’s direct Frankfurt-Luanda service.
Angola’s national carrier, TAAG, suspended its Madrid route in January 2024. The service had been operated in partnership with Iberia, which had already suspended its own direct Luanda flights in 2016.
Iberia subsequently worked with TAAG through a codeshare agreement, but that connection has also ended.
South African Airways does not operate its own Luanda service but places its code on flights operated by TAAG.
Luanda still has international connections
Despite the departures, Luanda remains connected to several major international aviation hubs.
Airlines currently serving the Angolan capital include TAP Air Portugal, Air France, Lufthansa, Royal Air Maroc, Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Airlink and TAAG.
Compagnie Africaine d’Aviation also began operating twice-weekly flights between Kinshasa and Luanda in August 2026.
The Angolan government had hoped the new airport would help establish Luanda as a major regional aviation hub. ATO said in December 2025 that it expected the airport to handle about four million passengers in 2026, still well below its 15-million-passenger annual capacity.
For travellers, the loss of Turkish Airlines means fewer options for connecting between Angola and destinations in Europe, Asia and beyond, particularly for those who previously used Istanbul as a hub.
Source: Euronews
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