Delta Air Lines continues to be bullish on Africa and has added an eighth destination with the first-ever scheduled direct service between the US and Luanda, Angola.
"As the No. 1 US carrier serving Africa, Delta is committed to expanding our presence into fast-growing African markets to better serve our global business travelers," said Perry Cantarutti, Delta’s senior vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa.
"This new service between Atlanta and Luanda will shave hours off of business travelers’ itineraries between the US and Angola thanks to more direct routings via the world’s largest airline hub in Atlanta."
The Angola flights will operate three times per week with 243-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft flying between Delta’s hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Luanda with an intermediate stop in Dakar, Senegal.
Angola, one of Africa’s fastest growing business travel destinations, has seen double-digit growthin annual travelers for the past several years and is expected to grow at similar rates for the foreseeable future, according to Delta.
Delta also is working with TAAG Angolan Airlines for TAAG to codeshare on the flights at a future date.
The new Luanda service marks a return of nonstop service between Atlanta and Dakar, adding to existing year-round service between the Senegalese capital and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Dakar joins Accra, Ghana as the second African city with nonstop service to two of Delta’s US hubs.
By David Wilkening
