TAAG, the national carrier of Angola, doesn’t operate the largest fleet in the skies however it has quite a heavy reliance on wide body jets. The carrier, as of October 11th, operates a 18 aircraft fleet of which 8 are wide body planes, albeit one of them being wet-leased from Hi-Fly. Some of these wide bodies are starting to get on with their age and the time to replace them is drawing closer. That is why the national carrier of Angola has just ordered 4 new jets from Boeing. Here’s all you need to know about the order.
The New TAAG Angola Boeing Order
TAAG operates an almost exclusively Boeing fleet. There are only 2 aircraft types that are not produced by the American manufacturer:
- An Airbus A330-200 wet-leased from HiFly
- 6 DCH Dash 8 Turboprops
Therefore it was only logical that TAAG would place an order for Boeing planes to renovate its fleet. What is interesting is the aircraft type the airline opted for.
The African carrier opted to place an order for 4 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Which variant the airline will choose to take delivery of is still unknown. I would however tend to rule out the possibility of seeing the 787-8, the smallest variant join the TAAG fleet. Simply because it would be significantly smaller than the Boeing 777-300 and 777-200 the airline currently operates.
Why The Choice Of The Dreamliner and Not the 777X?
An interesting talking point is why did TAAG, an airline that operates only 777s in its wide-body fleet, decided to order the 787 and not the 777X?
My personal take on this is that there might be 2 plausible explanations:
- The airline preferred to avoid any uncertainty on when it would receive the planes. Currently we’re still not sure on when the new generation of 777s will enter service.
- The 777X will undoubtedly be a more expensive option for TAAG. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner almost certainly came with a smaller more reasonable price tag for an airline such as the Angolan flag carrier.
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