Fly540 Angola was a subsidiary of

Fly540 Five Forty Aviation Ltd, trading as Fly540, is a low-cost airline which commenced operations in 2006 and is based in Nairobi, Kenya, operating both passenger and cargo services. The airline had two subsidiary airlines, Fly540 Ghana (suspended in ...

that was based at

Quatro de Fevereiro Airport Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (, ), is the main international airport of Angola. It is located in the southern part of the capital Luanda, situated in the Luanda Province. ''Quatro de Fevereiro'' means 4 February, which is an importa ...

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

and

Cabinda Airport Cabinda Airport () is an airport serving Cabinda, a city in the Cabinda Province, an exclave of Angola. Airlines and destinations See also * List of airports in Angola * Transport in Angola Transport in Angola comprises: Roads Two tr ...

in Cabinda,

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. Parent company

Fastjet Fastjet Limited is an African airline that began flight operations in 2012. It is headquartered in Johannesburg and serves regional flights between South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. History Initial proposals In June 2012, to start ope ...

suspended its operations in April 2014 pending restructuring, although it never resumed flights.

History

Fly540 Angola was established in 2009 as a subsidiary of Kenya-based

. It was the first privately owned

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

. The subsidiary was created as Fly540 felt there was a lack of domestic and regional air service in and out of Angola. Fly540 faced difficulties in launching Fly540 Angola, as Angola was under scrutiny by the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

(ICAO) and state-owned

TAAG Angola Airlines TAAG Angola Airlines E.P. () is a state-owned airline and flag carrier of Angola. Based in Luanda, the airline operates domestic services within Angola, medium-haul services in Africa and long-haul services to Brazil, Cuba, and Portugal. The a ...

had been placed on the EU blacklist due to safety concerns. Operations were expected to begin in 2009, but Fly540 Angola did not obtain certification from the Instituto Nacional da Aviação Civil until February 2011. The airline commenced flights in April 2011 with a single

ATR 72-500 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pa ...

and the

Cabinda airport Cabinda Airport () is an airport serving Cabinda, a city in the Cabinda Province, an exclave of Angola. Airlines and destinations See also * List of airports in Angola * Transport in Angola Transport in Angola comprises: Roads Two tr ...

as its base. By February 2013, the fleet had grown to two

ATR 72-200 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pa ...

s and one ATR 72-500. Fly540 Angola struggled in the market and accumulated losses. In June 2012, parent company Fly540 was acquired by Rubicon Diversified Investments, which made all of Fly540's subsidiaries part of its new venture

. However, in April 2014, Fastjet suspended Fly540 Angola's operations in order to restructure the airline from its full-service model to Fastjet's

low-cost A no-frills or no frills service or product is one for which the non-essential features have been removed to keep the price low. The term "Ruffle (sewing), frills" originally refers to a style of fabric decoration. Something offered to customers f ...

model. Fastjet subsequently decided to sell off Fly540 Angola's fleet, and the airline never resumed operations.

Corporate affairs

Pablo Martins was the airline's commercial director at the time of its launch. Fastjet held a 60% stake in the airline.

Destinations

At the time of its suspension, Fly540 Angola flew to the following destinations:

Fleet

Fly540 Angola operated two

ATR 72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pa ...

aircraft at the time of its suspension.

Services

Fly540 Angola functioned as a full-service airline rather than as a low-cost airline. Its ATR 72-500 offered 56 economy class seats and 12 business class seats.

References

{{Airlines of Angola Defunct airlines of Angola Airlines established in 2009 Airlines disestablished in 2014 Companies based in Luanda