The Chinese have come
Back in 2022, I managed to fly from Europe to Brazil with a stopover in Luanda. Angola, of course, another former Portuguese colony, and now also an exporter of oil, has a decent enough national airline, TAAG, which, in part because of the cheaper petrol at their disposal, is able to compete with European and South American airlines on cost for flights between Europe and South America. And they throw in the added bonus of still allowing not one, but two 23kg bags of checkin luggage.
The only downside is that, depending on your connection, though reflected in the price, your Luanda stopover can be quite long.
In 2022, Dutch passport holders still needed a visa to enter Angola, which I managed to get, with some hassle, from the Angolan consulate in New York. But, because the airport in Luanda basically was in the middle of town, the stopover I was facing, arriving in the morning, leaving in the evening, meant that I could just walk into town, enjoy some food and drink, and experience some of the sights, as well as see some of the attempts at the city wanting to become a kind of Dubai of south-western Africa.
Now, I was going to be in Europe for three weeks. The war on Iran, and general enshittification, meant that European and South American airlines were only selling too expensive tickets for the journey. But, TAAG was offering the journey for a comparative steal, and gave me two bags to travel with, one of which I intended to actually use on the return journey, stuffing it with Dutch cheese and other goodies for consumption back home in Brazil.
And, now, Angola no longer required visas for Dutch nationals. Flying TAAG was a no-brainer.
I bought the ticket, and congratulated myself for saving a few hundred euros… until a nagging feeling a few days later made me realise that something was off with the ticket I had bought.
Finding the digital ticket in my travel folder, I realised what it was: the airport code was wrong. My flight was now going through the new Luanda airport, more than 40km from town.
There was no way I was going to just walk into town, and enjoy a meal and the sights, on my stopovers of around 16 hours. I now also had to figure out how to get into town on a road that, it seemed, occasionally saw traffic grind to a halt during peak hours. Exactly the hours I needed to be on the road.
The site for the new airport had been selected as far back as 2004, with the original date for completion estimated at 2012. However, construction really only began in 2013, with the original contract being terminated in 2017 and then a new contract issued in 2020.
The airport was officially inaugurated in 2023 and domestic passenger flights were planned to begin in February 2024, international services following in June, but by mid-2024, only some 10 flights per month were landing at the new airport.
By April of 2025, TAAG was using the new airport, but only for some of their national destinations. So, when I bought my ticket in late 2025, besides that I had not kept up with the intricacies of airport development in Angola, expecting to fly from the new airport was not something I was remotely considering. But, by October 2025, TAAG had shifted its international services to the new airport, followed by all other operators in March 2026.
So, I now had to figure out how to get out of the airport, and into town, reliably.
On my way to Europe, I could choose to stay at the airport, as this was a stopover from morning to evening. But, on the way, arriving in the afternoon, and departing the next morning, finding a place to stay would be… pleasant.
The airport website talks about an airport hotel, but this doesn’t exist. The hotel nearest the airport is around 7km away, charges upwards of 150USD as well as for the privilege of enjoying an airport transfer, with all other hotels being in Luanda, some 40k away.
The Chinese built the airport, which means that pretty much all signs are in Chinese and Portuguese, but also that there is an airport-bound skytrain. However, this train only runs, I finally could confirm when I found myself at the airport, two (or maybe three) times a day. Shared busses arrive and depart regularly, and (expensive) airport taxis can drive you in to town.
The day I spent at the airport was somewhat overcast, cool enough to enjoy a walk and explore the airport’s surroundings, including being confronted with signs of the pope, who apparently recently visited the country. But, though all well manicured, the roads and parking were near-deserted, with pretty much nothing as far as the eye could see. Except the huge airport which only receives a dozen or so flights a day.
For my return trip, I managed to get the guest house which I had booked to pick me up from the airport. Ride sharing exists, but I couldn’t be quite sure they would work for me, as often they require confirmation of a cellphone number, of which I wouldn’t have a working one in Angola. So, on the way back from the guest house to the airport, I got staff to order me a ride from Hitch, an Uber competitor, which got me to the airport at a reasonable enough price. And, in both direction, at only about an hour of travel time.
Was the low price worth the hassle? Probably; I literally paid half the fare for my somewhat challenged flight. And now I know the intricacies of traveling to and from NBJ, Dr. António Agostinho Neto International Airport.