Five Years Ago: TAAG Angola Airlines Takes First Boeing 777-300ER
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Five years ago today, Angola national flag carrier TAAG Angola Airlines celebrated the delivery of its first extended-range Boeing 777-300ER. The aircraft, named Iona, with the registration number D2-TEJ, touched down at Quatro de Fevereiro Airport (LAD) after a non-stop 8,709 NM (14,015 km) flight from Seattle.
The Boeing 777-300ER was deployed on the Luanda to Lisbon route. Photo: Boeing
TAAG Angola Airlines ordered the Boeing 777-300ER to augment its flagship service between Angola and the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. After achieving independence from its colonial ruler in 1975, Angola descended into civil war with one faction backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union and the other by the United States and South Africa. When the war ended in 2002, Angola emerged as a presidential constitutional republic and was eager to renew ties with Portugal.