Luanda, July 11, 2025 (Lusa) - The Angolan Minister of Transport said on Friday that domestic and foreign private capital is being attracted to the new António Agostinho Neto International Airport (AIAAN), but the government wants capital that will create value in the country.
Ricardo de Abreu was speaking at the opening of the 2nd Transport and Logistics Forum, organised by the newspaper Expansão, on the theme ‘The New Airport as a Hub of Economic Development for the Country’.
"We are currently attracting domestic and foreign private capital, a trend that should continue. But we need capital that creates value in the country. Angola can no longer live on the illusion of endless resources. Those we have must be harnessed intelligently, strategically and through sustainable alliances, promoting growth and progress across the entire economy," said Ricardo de Abreu.
The Angolan minister considered the new airport a catalyst for a new cycle for air transport, integrated logistics and Angola's positioning as a regional and intercontinental hub.
The Minister of Transport said that the new infrastructure, covering an area of 30 square kilometres, inaugurated in 2023 and located in the province of Icolo e Bengo, is an instrument of national development and "represents a turning point" in the way the country positions itself in the world.
With the new airport, he said, the Portuguese-speaking country has a "reputation built with effort and global partners" who trust in Angola's potential, "with whom, a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to work".
However, Ricardo de Abreu stated that a new airport is not enough for Angola to become a hub; collective commitment is needed, stressing that the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), which is at the centre of the system, must be up to this new cycle.
Angola's flag carrier airline, "TAAG, with its catalytic potential, needs to accelerate the ongoing transformation process, focusing increasingly on operational management, results, customer delivery, ensuring safety, route diversity and comfort for its customers," he said, emphasising the need for the national flag carrier to focus "once and for all" on the "collective interest of the country".
"Our success depends on operational discipline, focus on results, quality of service and respect for international standards. We cannot allow individual interests or internal resistance to block what has been so difficult to achieve," he stressed.
The airport is part of a broader strategy, he said, because "it connects to logistics corridors, such as Lobito, connects to the port of Luanda, links up with the railway and opens Angola to Southern and Central Africa".
The minister also highlighted the importance of training human resources, whom he called the new generation of aeronautical professionals, "who must be certified, motivated and prepared to lead this transformation".
"I remind everyone that what often holds us back are not technical obstacles (...) It is the sceptics. Those who are afraid of tomorrow. Those who doubt their own abilities. Those who cling to acquired rights as if the world could stop around them. The sceptics who are found in all organisations and to whom our political responsibility is not to give way, much less allow them to set the course to follow, because they do not have it," he said.
Ricardo de Abreu also said that Angola has "one of the most modern airport infrastructures on the African continent", a modernised ecosystem and air traffic management and navigation aid system.
Construction of the new airport began in 2013, but in 2017 the project was re-evaluated and the infrastructure, located more than 40 kilometres north of Luanda, was inaugurated in 2023, costing the Angolan treasury almost €2.5 billion.
NME/AYLS // AYLS
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