Peachtree City-based World Airways has signed a $29 million agreement with Sonair Servico Aero SARL, an Angolan oil company, to increase its non-stop, roundtrip service between Luanda, Angola’s capital, and Houston.
World Airways is a subsidiary of World Air Holdings Inc., which also owns World Risk Solutions Ltd., an insurance company. The company first entered into an agreement with Sonair Servico Aero in 2000 to provide charter air service.
The agreement for 2005 increased the number of flights between Houston and Luanda from two to three a week beginning on Jan. 1, Steve Forsyth, a spokesperson for the company, told GlobalAtlanta. Sonair Servico Aero had the seats reconfigured on the planes, which normally held 400 passengers, to accommodate 125 seats for the 14-hour flights, enabling the passengers to rest on the flight and go to work on the day that they arrive in Luanda. The passengers are primarily oil executives and work crews.
World Airways main client is the U.S. military but has charter services for a wide variety of clients, according to Mr. Forsyth. Sonair Servico Aero is a subsidiary of Sonangol, Angola’s national oil company.
In 2003, World Airways stopped its service after seven months from Atlanta and New York to Lagos, Nigeria, which had been contracted by the Nigerian company RiteTime Travel and Aviation Service Inc.
Angola is the second largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria. Angola is dependent for 40 percent of its gross domestic product and 80 percent of government revenues from the industry.
World Air Holdings announced last week that it posted an increase in net profit for the fourth quarter and 2004, primarily because of its military passenger service.
For more information, Mr. Forsyth may be reached by calling (770) 632-8322.