De Havilland Canada announced on Friday the delivery of their first of six Dash 8-400s on order by TAAG Angola Airlines, the state-owned national airline of Angola. The order was announced on June 18, 2019 at the 2019 Paris Air Show.
Yesterday (June 26, 2020), De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited announced the delivery of the first of six Dash 8-400s to TAAG Angola Airlines, the state-owned national carrier of Angola. The aircraft order was originally announced at the 2019 Paris Air Show on June 18, 2019. The signing ceremony was attended by the Honorable Ricardo Viegas D’Abreu (Angola’s Minister of Transportation), David Curtis (Longview Aviation’s Chairman) and Todd Young (Chief Operating Officer of De Havilland Aircraft of Canada). In Friday’s announcement, TAAG Angola Airlines’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rui Carreira said,
“We selected the Dash 8-400 aircraft to support our development of a stronger domestic network and also to support our regional and international networks. With our acceptance of our first Dash 8-400 aircraft, we are continuing to implement our restructuring strategy and enhancing our service to smaller communities. The Dash 8-400 aircraft is well known for its comfortable passenger amenities, operational versatility and outstanding economics, which will be critical for TAAG’s operations where large aircraft are not economical. We look forward to its introduction to our fleet and to the diligent, ongoing support of De Havilland Canada’s team as we build our network.”
Also commenting on Friday’s aircraft delivery, De Havilland Aircraft of Canada’s Chief Operating Officer, Todd Young added,
We are delighted to announce that TAAG has taken delivery of its first Dash 8-400 aircraft which was completed through a delegated delivery process. Amidst the current health restrictions facing many countries and the need for efficient regional aircraft to restart air services, we have developed a remote delivery process to support our customers’ recovery efforts. Regional aircraft are proving to be the most important tools to support market recovery and De Havilland Canada’s teams are standing ready to provide ongoing service solutions to support TAAG’s success. The Dash 8-400 aircraft has proven its reliability and flexibility on Africa’s most challenging environments, including the hot and sandy regions in North Africa and the Ethiopian Highlands. The aircraft’s hot and high operational capability, along with its jet-like speed and comfort – while retaining turboprop economics – are well suited for Africa and contribute to the aircraft’s diverse customer base. We are confident that the Dash 8-400 aircraft is ideally suited to meet and exceed TAAG’s requirements, and welcome the airline to our family of more than 70 customers and operators – many of whom are currently using the Dash 8-400 aircraft to restart flying and deliver essential goods and transport during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The De Havilland Dash 8-400, which seats up to 90 passengers, is the only turboprop in its class certified to operate at high altitude airports and offers the flexibility to operate with steep approaches as well as the ability to operate from unpaved runways. The aircraft offers a 30% reduction in fuel-burn versus similar capacity regional jets and is around 160 km/h faster than typical turboprops. The Dash 8-400 aircraft has more than 60 customers worldwide in nearly 40 countries. The aircraft has logged nearly 7 million flight hours with a 99.5% dispatch reliability rate.
Source: De Havilland Aircraft of Canada