Angolan TAAG canceled a flight carrying 107 people after a nine-hour delay to Maputo

TAAG, the airline of Angola, canceled this Saturday evening the flight connecting Maputo (Mozambique) and Luanda (Angola) with 107 passengers on board, after almost nine hours of waiting at Maputo International Airport.

The flight, originally scheduled for 15:50 (13:50 in Lisbon), was canceled because passengers were already on board the plane.

The flight commander (DT582) stated that the reason for the cancellation was bad weather in the Mozambican capital, although Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM) aircraft operating domestic routes landed despite the rain.

Following the cancellation, passengers, some of whom were flying to other capitals from Luanda, especially Lisbon, spent a further two hours waiting for information at the facilities of the company, which took responsibility for paying for accommodation in the Mozambican capital.

Speaking to Lusa, the TAAG team at Maputo International Airport initially said the delay was due to a crew member feeling unwell, and later believed the route was canceled because the captain had exceeded his flight hours.

The new flight was scheduled for Sunday at 10:00 local time (8:00 Lisbon time).

TAAG is going through a period marked by labor disputes, an ongoing restructuring process and an accumulation of complaints from passengers unhappy with the company’s frequent delays and cancellations.

On Tuesday, the Angolan state decided to change the leadership of TAAG, choosing António dos Santos Domingos as president of the board of directors and Nelson de Oliveira, who returns to the “home” where he worked for 38 years, as executive president.

But the company also returned to profit, recording a net profit of 460.1 million kwanzas (about 900 thousand euros at the exchange rate at that time) in 2022 after years of losses.

The Angolan government wants to privatize TAAG, but does not give a specific time frame.