Interview: Belarnicio Muangala, Fly Angola General Manager

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Angola’s aviation sector took a symbolic step forward in April, when the European Union lifted all restrictions on TAAG Angola operating in its airspace.

The state-owned flag-carrier had been trying to shake off its EU ban for more than a decade: first gaining an exemption for Portuguese flights; then securing the right to serve elsewhere in Europe with specific aircraft; and finally being given unfettered access to the continent.

By removing TAAG from its blacklist, Brussels signalled that the mismanagement and corruption associated with the airline no longer poses a danger to the safety of flight.

But, on a broader commercial level, there remains little positive to say about civil aviation in Angola...

Interview: Desiré Balazire Bantu, Congo Airways CEO

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Desiré Balazire Bantu was appointed chief executive of Congo Airways in 2016 with a mandate to deliver sustainable growth at the state-owned flag-carrier, which launched services the previous year.

His aim of deploying 10 aircraft by 2020 quickly unravelled when the then president, Joseph Kabila, refused to step down at the end of his term, igniting a full-blown political crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

It was not until this January that a successor replaced Kabila and relative calm returned to capital city Kinshasa...