Angolan airline TAAG says looking for partner

TAAG Angola Airlines said on Wednesday it could soon pick a partner to help it develop its business, after receiving several offers from other airlines interested in linking up with the state-owned airline.

Angola’s Transport Minister Augusto Tomas said in January that Lufthansa, Brussels Air, British Airways, Air France-KLM and Portugal’s TAP were interested in TAAG, which recently resumed flights to the European Union.

The European Commission lifted the ban — imposed on TAAG in 2007 due to safety concerns — in July, but only for certain flights from the African nation to Portugal.

“It is now up to us to pick the best partner,” said Rui Carreira, a spokesman for TAAG. He did not say how a partnership would work.

Oil-producing Angola has become one of the most lucrative airline routes for some European airlines like Portugal’s TAP, as the country rebuilds from a devastating 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.

However, TAP Chief Executive Officer Fernando Pinto dismissed rumours in the media that a partnership between the Portuguese airline and TAAG was imminent.

“Now is not the time,” Pinto was cited by Radio Nacional de Angola as saying on Wednesday.

Reuters.