Aim-listed African investment conglomerate Lonrho’s regional Fly540 airline was one step closer to reaching its goal of flying in 15 African countries by 2010, after being awarded an air services licence in Angola.

Angola Transport Minister Augusto da Silva Tomas had issued the licence on Tuesday, Lonrho reported, adding that this followed six months of preparation, training, office development and systems implementation by the airline.

“This is a significant step forward for Fly540’s expansion across Africa. Angola remains a strong emerging economy, showing positive gross domestic product growth even during the global recession. The speed of economic and social development is impressive, and with this growing market, the need for quality aviation services to connect the country is clear,” Lonrho executive chairperson David Lenigas commented in a statement.                                               
The licence would be converted into an air operators certificate within the next few weeks, which would allow the airline to commence with commercial passenger services.

The airline would initially fly between Cabinda, Luanda, Soyo, Benguela, Huambo and Malanje, with two new ATR72 turboprop aircraft being deployed to cover these routes.

The aircraft, which were built by a subsidiary of Airbus, in France, had been completed and would be delivered to Angola soon, following an inspection by the Angola Civil Aviation Authority at the manufacturer’s premises.

As traffic volumes increased, possibly by the second half of this year, the airline would add two more ATR72 aircraft to its Angolan fleet. Lonrho also expected to expand its operations to eventually fly to 15 destinations across the country.

The airline operators planned to have operations established in 15 African countries by the end of next year and had, in 2006, started commercial operations in Nairobi, in Kenya, where Fly540 is based.

It had also added routes to Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan in 2008.

Lonrho bought a 49% stake in the airline for $1,5-million in 2006.