TAAG Angola Airlines is keen to capitalize on the potential of the African market to grow its cargo business, having brought on an industry veteran and introduced its first 737NG freighter into operation less than a year ago.

TAAG took delivery of a 2003-vintage 737-800BCF (33552, ex-Ryanair) on lease from BBAM in September 2023, but had not yet put it into service when the carrier appointed David Ambridge as director of cargo and mail that November. Ambridge helped put the freighter to work soon after that and it now flies at least four times a week.

“That doesn’t sound a lot, but there are some obstacles that we’re overcoming,” Ambridge says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.”

“We’ve actually created what I like to call a niche market now for this aeroplane, and that’s really where I see TAAG Cargo,” he says. “I see us being a niche carrier. We’re not Ethiopian; we don’t want to be, and we never will be.”

Ethiopian Airlines is the largest freighter operator in Africa with ten 777Fs, three 767-300BDSFs and four 737-800Fs.

While TAAG hopes to expand its own freighter fleet, it will also need to overcome hurdles, many of which relate to regulatory issues, Ambridge says.

“That’s a really big obstacle that we need to start sitting down with customs and understanding why they do it and where they feel the threats are and then seeing if they’re open to accept information electronically rather than via paper,” he says.

“Then we can give them advance manifests and an advance notice, and they can do maybe a little bit more of their risk assessment before the flight so that we can try and get stuff moved around Africa quicker.”

Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on TAAG as Ambridge speaks to Cargo Facts Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke.