TAAG Angola Airlines (DT, Luanda) has agreed to lease six A220-300s from Air Lease Corporation, an announcement made during the 2022 Farnborough Air Show has revealed. Deliveries will run from 2023 to 2024 and will replace the state-owned carrier's existing fleet of six B737-700s (which includes one B737-700(QC)).

“Today, we start our relationship with ALC incorporating six new Airbus A220-300 into our fleet. It’s indeed a significant announcement for us as we are celebrating a new era and a new vision for TAAG. We are alive, back in business, breaching with the past to achieve greater results and becoming a reference for Africa. This partnership emphasizes our commitment to grow and further improve our credibility among international stakeholders while creating a new value proposition for our passengers,” said Eduardo Fairen, Chief Executive of TAAG.

Fairen has since told ch-aviation the A220s will start arriving during the second half of 2023 while the entire B737 fleet will exit after 2025.

The move also marks the first time a major lessor has agreed to deal directly with the Angolan airline which, until now, has acquired all of its aircraft directly from the manufacturers themselves. TAAG also operates six DHC-8-Q400s alongside three B777-200(ER)s and five B777-300(ER)s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.

As previously reported, TAAG had also been considering the B737-7 from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) and the E2 from Embraer (EMB, Sao Jose dos Campos) as potential candidates.