TAAG ANGOLAN AIRLINES (TAAG LINHAS AEREAS DE ANGOLA, S. A.): Rua da Missao 123, P. O. Box 79, Luanda, CP 3010, Angola; Phone 244 (2) 332 485; Fax 244 (2) 393 548; Code DT; Year Founded 1973. The Divisao de Exploracao dos Transportes Aereos de Angola, also known as DTAAngolan Airlines, is reorganized on October 1, 1973. Ownership is divided between the new government of Angola (51%), TAP-Air Portugal, S. A. (29%), and ex-DTA employees (20%). Plans are made for the introduction of a new livery that will feature the palanca negra, a rare native antelope.
Orders are placed in 1974 for two Boeing 737-2M2Cs as an upgrade for a fleet built around three Fokker F.27 Friendships. Two associated companies are also formed: TAAG (Aviacao Ligeira) (General Aviation) and TAAG-Air Charter, S. A.
Flight operations are suspended until the nation’s 1975 independence from Portugal, at which time the airline becomes the national carrier. A bloody civil war that will last 19 years begins between the government and rebel UNITA forces. Commercial services resume in October and on November 19 the first of two B-737-2M2As to be obtained before year’s end is delivered. It introduces a red and orange livery and a tail-fin logo designed by Albano Neves e Sousa that features the palanca negra antelope.
Domestic B-737-2M2A operations are inaugurated in early 1976. International destinations now served include Sao Tome, Brazzaville, Lagos, Maputo, Paris, Rome, Lisbon, and Moscow. The two “Baby Boeings” spend most of the year on proving flights and crew training.
The airline is fully nationalized in 1977. The B-737-2M2As begin domestic services. The Soviet Union delivers four new Yakovlev Yak-40s and enplanements total 233,000.
A light aircraft division is established for the 1,650-employee in 1978 to perform air taxi flights; it is equipped with a fleet of 3 Piper PA-23 Aztecs, 1 Piper PA-28 Cherokee, 1 Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche, 2 Cessna 172s, and 1 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander. A B-707-373C is leased; christened City of Ostend, it undertakes all-cargo services from the Belgian city of that name.
A Lockheed Hercules freighter is destroyed as the result of a bad landing at Sao Tome on May 15, 1979. There are no fatalities. A total of 503,000 passengers are carried this year as additional jetliners are added.
Airline employment stands at 4,000 in 1980 as the airline is again rebuilt. Jose Antonio Fernandez is appointed director general as a government decree brings corporate reorganization. The fleet now includes in its heavy division 6 B-707-3M2B/Cs, 4 B-737-2M2As, 3 Yak 40s, 2 Lockheed L-100s, 4 Antonov An-26s, 2 F.27-600s, 1 F.27-500, and 1 F.27-400.
Seventeen minutes after takeoff from Jamba to Lubango on June 8, a Yak-40FG with 4 crew and 15 passengers is mistaken for an unauthorized foreign aircraft and is shot down by antiaircraft fire near Matala, Huila; there are no survivors.
AB-707-347C is purchased from Western Airlines of the U. S. in August, together with a B-737-2M2C.
Newly arrived from Western Airlines, the B-737-2M2C with 6 crew and 128 passengers is destroyed as the result of landing short at Benguela, Angola, on November 4; although the plane catches fire, all aboard are safely evacuated.
During 1981-1982 , the fleet is increased by the addition of a replacement B-737-2M2AC as the 4 Antonovs are withdrawn. Routes are initiated or frequencies modified to Havana, Moscow, Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Lusaka, Maputo, and Sal, plus 22 domestic stops.
On May 16 of the former year, an L-100-20 Hercules with four crew coming in to land at Menongue is hit in its No. 4 engine by a heat-seeking surface-to-air missile; there are no survivors from the crash that follows.
A chartered An-26 with six crew and nine passengers flies into 2,250m. Monte Bibala on November 29 of the latter year; again, there are no survivors.
Passenger boardings in 1981-1982 are, respectively: 810,000 and 890,000.
A third F.27-600 is delivered in April 1983.
While on initial climb away from Lubango on a November 8 service to Luanda, a B-737-2M2AC with 4 crew and 126 passengers reaches an altitude of only 200 ft. before it stalls and crashes, bursting into flames; there are no survivors. The government will maintain that the accident is due to a “technical fault” experienced during bad weather, while proWestern insurgents will assert they have shot it down.
Enplanements reach 952,000 for the year.
In 1984, the company visits 27 destinations, including the international communities of Brazzaville, Havana, Kinshasa, Lisbon, Lusaka, Maputo, Moscow, Paris, Rome, and Sal.
On February 9, as the result of a bomb explosion in its forward cargo hold, a B-737-2M2AC with 6 crew and 136 passengers is forced to make an emergency landing back at Huambo, its point of origin; although no injuries are reported, the little Boeing is damaged beyond repair.
Financial difficulties are suffered and traffic figures are not released this year.
The employee population in 1985 is 5,000. In November, the Douglas DC-10-30 of LAM Mozambique Airlines is chartered to start a weekly service from Luanda to Lisbon. One L-100 is withdrawn as bookings fall to 829,000.
Operations continue apace during 1986. An L-100-20 with five crew veers off the left side of the runway while landing at Dundo on June 8; a wing is ripped off and a fire started that guts the aircraft. There are no fatalities.
Return services from Luanda to Havana are now operated by a pair of Ilyushin Il-62Ms recently obtained from the Soviet Union.
TAAG-Air Charter, S. A. is renamed Angola Air Charter, S. A. in 1987. The subsidiary continues flights with a Boeing 707 and two Lockheed L-100 Hercules. Flights are operated to Johannesburg, Lisbon, Luanda, and Ostend, along with charters to Namibia and the Spanish city of Vitoria.
During 1988, damaged or lost flight equipment proves costly. A Yak 40FG is destroyed in a Luanda landing accident on January 8; there is no information concerning any possible casualties.
A B-707-349C with nine crew strikes a radio antenna atop a building while on final approach to Luanda on February 8; the accident costs the aircraft its hydraulic and control lines and consequently, the Stratofreighter overruns its landing and loses its nosegear. Although the plane must be written off, there are no fatalities.
While on initial approach to Lagos on a July 21 service from Ostend, an Angola Air Charter, S. A. B-707-328C with six crew crashes while positioning; there are no survivors.
While on the ground at Luanda on October 10, an electrical fire breaks out in the forward cargo hold of the former Western Airlines B-707-347C; although the three-man crew is able to escape, the Strato-liner is burned out.
After an uneventful 1989, is uneventful, Director General Mario Rogerto von Haff’s fleet in 1990 includes 1 B-707-349C, 5 B-707-3M2Cs, 4 B-737-2M2As, 2 Il-62Ms, 1 B-737-2M2AC, 1 F.27-400M, 1 F.27-500, 3 F.27-600s, 1 F.27-100, 1 Hercules, and 2 Yak-40s.
On January 5, the Hercules, with four crew and three passengers and operated by Angola Air Charter, S. A., is hit in its No. 4 engine by a heatseeking surface-to-air missile just after takeoff from Menongue on a service to Luanda. Although the No. 3 engine is also damaged, the turboprop is able to make a safe return to its point of origin, Upon landing, however, it veers off the runway and its landing gear collapses, damaging the aircraft beyond repair. No injuries are reported.
A Pilatus-Britten-Norman PBN-2 Islander is acquired in 1991. Domestic services are flown out of Luanda to 18 internal locations. International destinations include Berlin (Schoenfeld Airport), Havana, Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Lisbon, Lusaka, Maputo, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Sal, Sao Tome, and Rio de Janeiro. A new board is installed in September with Antonio Henriques da Silva as chairman/CEO. The five B-707-3M2Cs are traded in during October for two hush-kitted B-707-382Cs that are turned over to Angola Air Charter, S. A. for operation.
In addition to the fleet units available 2 years earlier, da Silva’s company in 1992 continues to operate 2 Il-62Ms, 2 more L-382G Hercules freighters leased from Safair Freighters (Pty.), Ltd., and 1 L-1011-500 TriStar chartered from Air Portugal, S. A. An order is placed for five Fokker 50s.
The nosegear of the B-707-349C with four crew collapses as the Stratofreighter is landing at Luanda on February 20; although the aircraft is badly damaged, there are no fatalities.
In March, the airline contracts with TAP-Air Portugal, S. A. for the creation of a joint catering and handling operation based at Luanda.
Endiama, the state-owned diamond company, purchases 49% minority shareholding in Angola Air Charter, S. A. in April.
Da Silva is followed into office by Jose A. Fernandez in 1993. The bloody civil war in the country continues to rage; early in the year, UNITA rebels capture the central Angolan city of Huambo, forcing TAAG to withdraw its services. A new color scheme is introduced during the year for both the main line and Angola Air Charter, S. A.
The workforce totals 1,948 in 1994. While taxiing to a parking spot after landing at Malange on April 7, an Angola Air Charter, S. A. L-100-30 with four crew and overheated brakes, catches fire; the blaze spreads, destroying the aircraft, though not before all aboard are able to escape.
Huambo is recaptured in early November just before a cease-fire is signed between the government and UNITA on November 20; a formal UN-sponsored truce begins two days later. TAAG is able to resume four-times-per-week F.27-600 flights to Huambo from Luanda on December 6.
The fleet in 1995 comes to include the TriStar leased from TAP-Air Portugal, S. A. as well as 2 owned Il-62Ms, 3 B-737-2M2As, 3 Fokker F.27-600s, 1 of which is out of service, and 1 each F.27-500, F.27-400M, F.27-200, B-737-2M2CA, and B-707-382C.
Just after landing at Huambo, Angola, in the rain on January 31, a newly acquired B-727-21F with three crew hydroplanes off the runway into the mud, ripping off its landing gear in the process; although the aircraft is damaged beyond repair, there are no fatalities.
In November, the company begins code-sharing flights with TAP-Air Portugal, S. A. between Luanda and Lisbon. Again, no traffic figures are reported.
Airline employment stands at 4,297 in 1996 and an arrangement is made with Singapore Airlines, Ltd. to lease a Boeing 747-312C the following year. Enplanements reach 398,513 and a total of 8,600 tons of goods are also flown.
An F.27-600 with three crew and four passengers fails its takeoff from Brazzaville on April 14, 1997 and falls back to land on a rough spot near the runway where it breaks in two and bursts into flame (three dead).
New in-flight services are introduced and staff training is upgraded. Destinations visited during this year and into 1998 include Benguela, Brazzaville, Cabinde, Dundo, Harare, Havana, Huambo, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Kuito, Lisbon, Lubango, Lusaka, Malange, Menongue, Moscow, Pointe Noire, Rio de Janeiro, Sal, Sao Tome, Soyo, and Windhoek.
Fighting between the government and UNITA forces resumes in late fall.
Because South Africa has removed certain authorizations for service into the airspace of war-torn Angola, TAAG Angola begins flying a B-707-382C in full Aero Zambia, S. A. colors and logo on thrice-weekly all-cargo roundtrips from Luanda to Johannesburg. When this subterfuge is found out on February 9, 1999, Aero Zambia requests that the pirated livery be removed.
Having been closed for five months due to threats from UNITA rebels, Malange Airport is reopened on May 12.
On July 10, 2000, the company begins to negotiate with British Airways, Ltd. (2) concerning the authority now provided the British major to operate twice-weekly roundtrips to Luanda from London (LHR).
In mid-September, the leased B-737-2M2A employed to operate from Luanda to Lisbon is stranded in the Portuguese capital with technical problems. A heavily used B-737-2M2AC is also stuck, undergoing required maintenance. This leaves the leased fleet with just 2 operational B-737-2M2As and 1 each B-747-312 and B-747-357. By the end of the month, the airline is forced to suspend its flights to Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg because it does not have sufficient aircraft to make the flights.
TAASA (TAXIS AEREOS ARGENTINAS, S. A.): Argentina (19461959) . TAASA is formed as an ad hoc air taxi by government decree no. 179/47 in Buenos Aires in 1946. Following two years of charter work during 1947-1948, the operator begins flying scheduled services in January 1949. With a fleet comprising 6 de Havilland DH 89As and 1 Fairchild F-24W, TAASA provides third-level flights for citizens in 7 towns in Entre Rios Province.
Service continues for a decade. Unable to compete against the large number of commuter carriers established in 1958, the company ceases operations in 1959.
TAB (TRANSPORTES AERIENS DU BENIN, S. A.): Benin (19821989). In April 1982, the Benin government merges Air Benin (Societe Nationale des Transports Aeriens du Benin, S. A.) and ENB (Es-cadrille Nationale du Benin, S. A.) to form a new state carrier TAB (Transportes Aeriens du Benin, S. A.). Equipped with 1 Fokker F.28, 1 de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, 3 Douglas DC-3s, 1 Dassault Falcon 20, and 1 Antonov An-26, the company undertakes services over the routes of the merger partners.
Destinations now visited include, within Benin: Cotonou, Kandi, Djougou, Parakou, Natitingou, and Save. Weekly flights are made to the regional destinations of Lagos (Nigeria) and Niamey (Niger). The Twin Otter is lost under unknown circumstances at Choke on February 24, 1983.
Company operations are maintained without further incident by Managing Director Manasse Ayayi’s concern until the carrier ceases operations in 1989.
TABA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS BACIA AMAZONICA, S. A.) See TABA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS BANDEIRANTES, S. A.)
TABA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS BANDEIRANTES, S. A.): Brazil (1946-1951). Hoping to create an air cargo operation into the rubber country around Manaus, ex-VASD (Viacao Aerea Santos Dumont, S. A.) pilot Capt. Alberto Martins Torres founds TABA (Transportes Aereos Bacia Amazonica, S. A.) in early 1946.
Unsatisfied with the carrier’s choice of name, denoting as it did a specific locale, the government requires Torres to reorganize and rename his company in 1947 before an operating permit will be provided. Choosing to honor men of legend while retaining the company initials, TABA is accordingly reformed and its headquarters are moved to Rio de Janeiro.
Employing two Consolidated PBY-5 Catalinas originally acquired for use in the Amazon area surrounding Manaus, Torres now begins flying to Laguna, Santa Catarina, in April 1948. These services do not prove fiscally viable even after the route is stretched to Porto Alegre and by the fall of 1949, the flying boats are maintaining the route only on an intermittent basis.
Although his routes are suspended by the fall of 1950, Capt. Torres hopes to restart and to save money in the face of mounting costs, he joins in a technical consortium with LAP (Linhas Aereas Paulistas, S. A.) and Loide Aereo Nacional, S. A.
En route from Rio de Janeiro, a C-46A with three crew is lost in Gua-nabara Bay on September 8; there are no fatalities.
The situation does not improve and on August 24, 1951, TABA becomes part of an operating consortium with his partners under the Loide banner.
TABA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS BUENOS AIRES, S. A.): Argentina (1959-1969). One of many commuter airlines established in 1959, TABA provides scheduled flights to various destinations within Buenos Aires Province. The company’s fleet comprises 1 Cessna 170 and 5 C-45s.
In 1963, the carrier receives a government subsidy to defray its costs of operation after picking up the route network of TACA (Transporte Aereo Costa Atlantica, S. A.), which had stopped flying the previous year.
Overextended financially, the operation is closed down in 1969.
TABA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS REGIONAIS DA BACIAAMA-ZONICA, S. A.): Av. Dr. Freitas S/No, Hangar TABA, Belem, Para 68030, Brazil; Phone 55 (91) 233-6653; Fax 55 (91) 233-3553; Code T2; Year Founded 1975. TABA is formed at Julio Cesar Airport at Belem in early 1975 by Col. Marcellio Gibson Jacques and is consolidated with his already existing NTA (Norte Taxi Aerea, S. A.). Beech 18 operations commence in July. On November 12, the government establishes the Sistema Integrado de Transportes Aereos Regional, calling for the formation of five regional airlines to provide third-level feeder service to outlying areas. A promise of subsidy is made, based on a 3% surcharge on tickets sold on trunk routes. The first carrier signed up is Col. Jacques’s Amazon Basin TABA.
Jacques’s operation is officially registered as a domestic regional airline on January 1, 1976 as scheduled service is inaugurated from Belem to Altamira, Santarem, and Itaituba. In addition to Beech 18s painted in the company’s white, brown, and blue livery, TABA’s fleet is now significantly strengthened by the addition of the Fairchild Hiller FH-227 Rio Amazonas, leased from the Ministry of Aeronautics in June. Several new Embraer EMB-110C Bandeirantes are also acquired.
Between 1977 and 1981 , service is developed and maintained to some 40 destinations as the network is stretched west and south into the State of Amazonas and to such cities as Macapa, Amapa, Oiapoque, Altamira, Nonte Alegre, Obidos, Santarem, Itaituba, Parintins, Maues, and Manaus. Other states visited, primarily by Bandeirante, include Amazonas, Para, Amapa, Acre, Rondonia, and Mato Grosso and additional cities are Cucui, Porto Vellio, and Cuiaba.
The fleet is increased to comprise 3 FH-227s, 10 EMB-110P1s, and 8 Beech 18s.
An EMB-110P with 2 crew and 14 passengers crashes on takeoff from Eirunepe Airport in Brazil on January 31, 1978 (two dead).
During the latter year, the livery is changed to blue and white and en-planements total 189,974.
While on final approach to the airport at Tabatinga, Brazil, in poor visibility on June 12, 1982, an FH-227B with 4 crew and 44 passengers, collides with a pole and then crashes into a parking lot; there are no survivors.
Enplanements reach 228,891 for the year.
In 1983, three Fairchild Hillers are withdrawn. Passenger bookings climb to 244,820.
Delivered the previous December, two BAe 146-100 jetliners are placed in service during January 1984. As recession reaches the Amazon area, customer boardings fall to 230,825.
Difficulties surround the BAe 146-100s in 1985; both are grounded and then returned. Plans for expansion to Rio de Janeiro are shelved in the face of adverse financial conditions.
While on final approach to Juara, Brazil, on June 23, an EMB-110P1 with 2 crew and 15 passengers suffers the loss of its No. 1 engine and crashes 1 km. short of the runway; there are no survivors.
Although three more FH-227s are brought into service, enplanements plunge 28% to 165,079. Financially, however, the year is a success; on revenues of $25 million, a $4-million profit is generated.
The BAe 146s are returned to their British manufacturer early in 1986. The fleet of the 600-employee company now includes 9 Bandeirantes and 6 FH-227s. The company services 36 destinations across 3 time zones; the company’s east-west route network equals in distance the space between London and Moscow. At year’s end, Bruno Gibson Jacques succeeds his father as president/CEO. Enplanements total 310,953.
Airline employment grows 2.3% in 1987 to 619 and the route network is increased includes 39 destinations in 6 states in northwest Brazil. The company also provides maintenance services, air taxi operations, and a full crew for each airport it operates.
Passenger boardings drop 7.5% to 289,259.
The workforce is increased another 16.3% in 1988 to 720 as the fleet receives another Bandeirante and FH-227.
Still, customer bookings decline, falling 17.5% to 169,521. Cargo, on the other hand, increases by 50.1% to 1.23 million FTKs.
In 1989, the 630-employee airline owns a fleet comprising 10 Ban-deirantes and 7 FH-227s. In association with TNT Express Worldwide, new charter freight service is introduced in the fall between Sao Paulo and Manus. For the first nine months covered by the statistics that are provided, the company suffers another major traffic downturn.
Passenger boardings are off by 14.6% to 115,180 and freight is down 25.4% to 841,000 FTKs.
Two EMB-110Ps are withdrawn in 1990. While on final approach to Altamira after a service from Belem on June 6, an FH-227B with 3 crew and 29 passengers strikes a line of trees and crashes 1 km. from the runway (22 dead).
Still, customer bookings recover during the first half to grow by 33.4% to 96,612.
In 1991, five more Bandeirantes are added, along with three de Hav-illand Canada DHC-8-300s as two more FH-227Bs are retired.
Through September, passenger boardings are down 32.2% to 103,590; freight through the same period is up 34.5% to 441,000 FTKs.
One more Bandeirante is acquired in 1992 in addition to three leased Canadian-made turboprops; options are taken on two Fokker 100s. The first international route is opened during the summer, to Georgetown via Boa Vista.
The workers at the third-level operator are doubtless pleased as customer bookings recover for the year as a whole, growing by 28.2% to 132,841. Cargo hauled totals 250,000 FTKs.
The two Fokker 100s are placed into service in 1993.
An FH-227B freighter with three crew en route from Belem, crashes out of control into the jungles near Altamira on the night of January 25; there are no survivors.
During 1994, the fleet includes 15 Dash 8s, 9 Bandeirantes, 4 FH-227s, and the 2 Fokker 100s. Enplanements during the first quarter of 1994 are 90,806.
En route from Itaituba to Belem on the evening of October 22, a DC-8-300 with 33 passengers is taken over by 5 gunmen among them, who require that the aircraft return to its point of origin. There, armed with advance knowledge, the pirates are able to remove a $1.15-million shipment of gold bars weighing a total of 213 pounds from the cargo hold and disappear with it on vehicles that appear from the nearby woods. The gold is owned by Germany’s Degussa A. G., which had begun operating the Amazon’s first gold exchange in Itaituba on September 13.
With nine passengers en route from Caryari to Teti on December 15, an EMB-110 is hijacked by a lone assailant. When the aircraft lands at its scheduled destination, the pirate is captured by police.
Airline employment has been cut to 300 by 1995. Again, traffic figures are only reported through March. These show passenger boardings up 36.1% to 142,105.
While on final approach to Santarem on a November 28 all-cargo service from Belem, an FH-227B with two crew and two passengers crashes near the runway (three dead).
Full-year revenues are $53.19 million.
Eight employees leave the company in 1996. Figures are again incomplete and show enplanements down to 33,898. The financial picture worsens in 1997 and over 30 workers are laid off.
Flights continue in 1998-2000. During these years, the fleet of 10 Bandeirantes is cut to 8; however, the 3 FH-227Bs soldier on.
TABSA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS BENIANOS, S. A.): Bolivia (1963-1977). The proprietors of the Crillon Hotel at La Paz, led by Capt. Samuel Sangueza, creates TABSA in July 1963. Initially equipped with several Curtiss C-46 Commandos and employing the marketing name Bolivan Airways, the carrier begins services from La Paz to destinations in the Departments of Benj, Santa Cruz, and Pando. An application is made to the U. S. government for a foreign air carrier permit; disposition of the request will take years.
Finally, in early 1968, the carrier is granted traffic rights by the CAB to fly to Miami. Two Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellations are purchased and scheduled charter services undertaken to Miami beginning in April via Lima, Guayaquil, and Panama. On August 23, a C-46 crashes near Nieve (four dead).
During the remainder of the decade and through 1971, the number of C-46s is reduced from a high of nine to just two.
One of these, a chartered Curtiss CW-20T with two crew and two passengers is destroyed in a crash while landing at San Pedro Richard Airport on May 28, 1972; there are no fatalities.
Thereafter, the survivor and the Lockheeds are retired and replaced by one each Convair CV-440 and Douglas DC-7CF. Ultimately unprofitable, the carrier ceases flying in late 1977.
World History
