Angola anticipates shifting traffic from its current international airport in Luanda, Quatro de Fevereiro, to the new Dr Antonió Agostinho Neto airport towards the end of 2023.

This is despite completion of crucial infrastructural work lagging behind schedule.

Donning a hard hat and a construction vest at the site over the weekend, President João Lourenço reiterated his hope that the new airport would lift Angola’s economic prospects.

According to press agency Angop, Lourenço said fast-tracking work on infrastructure that was lacking and incomplete would facilitate business for many people. He specifically mentioned flower and other horticultural exports through Luanda.

Lourenço indicated he had no doubt that the requisite construction work would be completed, although this ‘assurance’ had about it a modicum of doubt.

"We have just completed yet another visit to this important infrastructure and, at the end of this visit, we are more assured that, effectively, we will have the new Luanda international airport ready next year."

Transport Minister Ricardo D’Abreu echoed Lourenço’s optimism that the shift in traffic would happen late next year.

It is expected that airport personnel will already be moving across from April or May.

Once completed, the Dr António Agostinho Neto International Airport will have capacity to handle 50 000 tonnes of cargo annually, and 15 million passengers.