OPINION: (By Mark-Anthony Johnson) Angola’s $3.8 Billion NEW International Airport will be inaugurated on November 10: A new $3.8 billion airport in Angola’s capital #Luanda will seek to position the southern African nation as a regional aviation hub once the facility opens on Friday.

Agostinho Neto International Airport (ANIA), located about 26 mi. from the center of Luanda, will include a terminal building capable of handling 15 million passengers per year, a 13,780-ft. northern runway and 12,467-ft. southern runway, a hotel, shops, and restaurants. The first phase will also be able to handle 130,000 tons of cargo annually.

“ANIA will be a powerful driver for our economy,” “Its operation will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs—the creation of the airport city will be a center for development in our city, focusing on sustainability and urban mobility.” Says José Paulo Nobrega, Coordinator of the Operational Office of the New Luanda International Airport.

Built on a 43-hectare site by AVIC, plans for the state-owned new airport have been in the works for more than a decade, but have been delayed several times. Once operational, however, ANIA will replace the existing Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (LAD) as Angola’s main international gateway and become a new hub for the country’s flag carrier, TAAG, Angola Airlines.

TAAG offers flights to 23 destinations from LAD at present, 12 of which are international to points including Johannesburg; Lisbon, Portugal; and SaoPaulo. Additionally, a further 10 carriers serve the airport.

Nobrega says that Angola’s Transport Ministry has received “several indications of interest” from other international carriers seeking to enter Angola’s market once ANIA opens. He adds: “We have a changing and increasingly attractive legal and economic framework. The reforms that have been carried out in the country are aimed at making Luanda an equally attractive destination for various aviation operators.”

Efficient cargo handling at ANIA will bolster businesses, Nobrega says, especially those dealing with the export of perishable goods such as vegetables, tropical fruit, fish, and seafood. “With the support of ANIA, they will be able to reach consumer destinations in Africa, Europe, and the Americas within 24 hr.,” he adds.

Angola 🇦🇴 is an #AfCFTA member country

MARK-ANTHONY JOHNSON is the founder and CEO of JIC Holdings, an innovative private holding company established in 2009 which he has built into an international asset and investment management company with offices, associates and investments around the globe. This followed the success of the JIC Group which he founded in 1985. He was educated in the UK at Mill Hill School and then achieved a BA (Hons) in Business and International Finance at University of Westminster.

Mark-Anthony’s vision has long been towards emerging and frontier markets with particular emphasis on Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and his philosophy can be summed up in the phrase “knowledge is power”. Mark-Anthony is also enthusiastic about the latest communication tools, which he uses intensively to keep in touch with up to the minute data.

With a deep-rooted connection to the African continent, Mark-Anthony has been passionate about developments in Africa for over 30 years. He has worldwide interests in mining, infrastructure, power, electricity, shipping, commodities, agriculture and fisheries and is currently looking to develop farms across Africa. Mark-Anthony has a vision for a future Africa as the breadbasket of the world.

For many years Mark-Anthony has been active on the ground in Africa through his charitable foundation, the Johnson Foundation. Created in 1989, it first provided assistance to people in his ancestral home country, Sierra Leone, even before the civil war. Once the war started, his aid was even more necessary and became focussed on Mark-Anthony’s major concerns for Africa -education, clean water and medical assistance. Over the years, the Foundation’s work has been extended into many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and has been instrumental in setting up new clinics and rehabilitating villages, schools, places of worship, water facilities etc.