Dr. António Agostinho Neto International Airport
Airport in Luanda, Angola
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. António Agostinho Neto International Airport (Portuguese: Aeroporto Internacional Dr. António Agostinho Neto)[2] (IATA: NBJ, ICAO: FNBJ), informally Novo Aeroporto Internacional de Luanda (NAIL), is the international airport serving Luanda, the capital of Angola. It is located in the municipality of Bom Jesus in Icolo e Bengo Province, 40 km (25 miles) south-east of Luanda city center. It is named after Agostinho Neto, the first president of Angola.
Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Angola | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Empresa Nacional de Exploração de Aeroportos e Navegação Aérea (ENANA) | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Luanda | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Bom Jesus, Icolo e Bengo Province, Angola | ||||||||||||||
| Hub for | TAAG Angola Airlines | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 522 ft (159 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 9°2′48.4″S 13°30′25.9″E | ||||||||||||||
| Website | |||||||||||||||
 Interactive map of Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Source: aerobaticsweb.org [1] | |||||||||||||||
It is the largest airport ever constructed by any Chinese enterprise outside of China.[3] It is intended to be Angola's main gateway to the world and an important air hub for Africa, having been designed for 15 million passengers annually and 130,000 metric tons of cargo.[3][4][5] The five busiest airports in Africa handle 7.5–28 million passengers per year,[6] of which three have direct flights from Luanda. The older Luanda airport, Quatro de Fevereiro served 5.6 million in 2018.[citation needed]
History
The site was selected in 2004 and construction began in mid-2006.[7] The original date for completion was 2012.[7] Construction costs, which were to be financed largely by China, were estimated in 2015 at US$3.8 billion.[7] Reporting in 2024 indicates the project started in 2005, with construction beginning in 2013.[8] The project was led first by China International Fund[9] in conjunction with the Brazilian company Odebrecht until 2019, then by Aviation Industry Corporation of China.[5] The original contract was terminated in 2017 and a new contract issued in 2020.[8]
The airport was officially inaugurated on 10 November 2023.[4][10][8] Domestic passenger flights were planned to begin in February 2024 and international passenger services in June 2024.[3] Flight operations began slowly, however, as the first cargo flight was on 19 December 2023,[11] and only 32 cargo flights were completed by 20 February 2024.[12] During the 30 days ending 9 August 2024, fewer than ten flights were recorded.[13] By early April 2024, the target date to shift all operations to the new airport was the end of 2024.[8] TAAG Angola Airlines later planned to move their hub progressively to Dr. António Agostinho Neto International Airport until the end of the first quarter of 2025.[14]
The first passenger flight connection at the new airport was launched on 10 November 2024.[15] By 18 December 2024, an average of four flight departures per day was recorded.[16] By 17 April 2025, an average of 11 flight departures per day was recorded, all by TAAG Angola Airlines and nearly all to Angolan destinations.[17] TAAG transferred its international services in October 2025, and other airlines gradually followed.[18] By 5 January 2026, average daily departures rose to 19, while departures from the previous airport declined to 2.[19]
In March 2026, all airline operations were transferred to the new airport.[20]
Facilities
The facility has a total area of 43 hectares (0.43 km2; 110 acres), consisting of two modern runways and three terminal buildings.[3][8]
Runways
The airport has two parallel runways, located 2.2 km (1.4 miles) from each other. The first runway is 4,000 m × 60 m (13,120 ft × 200 ft). The second runway is 3,800 m × 60 m (12,470 ft × 200 ft).[1] Only one runway was in active use as of December 2025.[18]
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Dr. António Agostinho Neto International Airport: