P 160800Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY LUANDA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5367
INFO AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY ROME 
FAA NATIONAL HQ WASHINGTON DC
DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC
DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L LUANDA 000160 
 
 
EMBASSY ROME FOR TSA ANTHONY GIOVANNIELLO 
DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/TRA KRISTIN GUSTAVSON, BRIAN SILER, AND 
TERRI ROBL 
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PASS TO SUSAN MCDERMOTT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2019 
TAGS: AO EAIR ECON ENIV
SUBJECT: MINISTER OF TRANSPORTATION DOES A ONE-EIGHTY ON 
DELTA AND THE EU BAN 
 
REF: A. LUANDA 68 B. LUANDA 38 C. LUANDA 107 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Dan Mozena for Reason 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: During a March 11 meeting with Ambassador 
Mozena, Minister of Transport Augusto de Silva Tomas 
de-linked Delta's request to begin service in Angola (ref A) 
from a deal involving TAAG flights to the U.S., reversing his 
previous stance as communicated to Embassy and Delta 
officials.  In stark contrast to the Ambassador's January 13 
meeting (ref B), the Minister now appears to realize that the 
Angolan CAA's (INAVIC) and TAAG's EU blacklisting are serious 
technical and regulatory problems that cannot be solved by 
political expedient.  The Minister requested information on 
everything Angola must do to get Luanda Airport FAA approved, 
and TAAG approved to fly to the U.S.  Ambassador Mozena 
responded to the Minister's requests by outlining six 
concrete steps that the U.S. and Angola could take to achieve 
our two mutual, but separate, goals. END SUMMARY 
 
¶2. (C) During his March 11 meeting with Ambassador Mozena, 
Minister Tomas presented a much more pragmatic view of both 
Delta's request to begin service to Angola and the EU ban on 
all Angolan airlines, than expressed during their January 13 
meeting.  The Minister no longer explicitly linked Delta's 
authorization to begin air operations to Angola with a quid 
pro quo for TAAG.  Instead, he stated it was GRA law to first 
have a government to government civil aviation agreement, but 
that he had already instructed INAVIC to begin preliminary 
contacts with Delta on what it had to do to gain 
authorization to fly into Angola.  He was surprised and 
visibly irritated to learn from Ambassador Mozena that, after 
repeated requests by the embassy, INAVIC still had not 
provided any information to Delta or the Embassy on how a 
foreign airline could apply for authorization to operate in 
Angola.  Tomas stated that he would contact INAVIC to see 
that all information on GRA regulations and laws were 
forwarded to the Embassy and Delta.  He went on to say that 
receiving Delta is an honor for the Angolan people, and that 
the two countries "should work directly without 
intermediaries since this just makes thing expensive."  He 
affirmed President Dos Santos's vision of normalized air 
transport between the U.S. and Angola.  He requested that the 
Ambassador assist the GRA in obtaining information on all 
that Angola must do to get TAAG into the U.S. market and 
Luanda's 4 de Fevereiro Airport FAA certified.  He inquired 
about the possibility of sending Angolan airport officials to 
the U.S. for training on security issues.  He asked for the 
Ambassador's support to establish exchanges of aviation 
officials and in understanding the necessary rules, 
equipment, and procedures required by the U.S. since the 
issue "involved several USG agencies." 
 
¶3. (C) Ambassador Mozena responded to the Minister's requests 
with six concrete steps that could be taken to help both 
countries achieve their aviation goals: 
 
--GRA could invite TSA to come to Luanda and do a security 
survey of Luanda's 4 de Fevereiro Airport to identify what 
needed to be done to satisfy at least the security aspects 
for U.S. authorization. 
 
--The Ambassador informed the Minister that TSA had a new 
security assistance pilot program (ASSIST) that would provide 
for a more robust security assessment of 4 de Fevereiro 
airport.  The Ambassador stated that he would request that 
TSA consider Angola for this pilot program when he meets with 
TSA officials in Washington in April. 
 
--The Ambassador proposed that officials from the Transport 
Ministry, INAVIC, TAAG, and the Angolan National Airport 
Authority (ENANA) go to the April DOT/FAA/TSA/ICAO organized 
conference on African Aviation Operations to the United 
States in Dakar to learn, step by step, everything the GRA 
needed to know to begin air operations to the U.S. 
 
--Ambassador extended an invitation to the Minister to attend 
a USTDA sponsored Partners in Aviation Conference in Cape 
Town to meet U.S. aviation industry officials to discuss 
broader aviation issues.  T 
 
--The Ambassador recommended Tomas stop in Washington after 
his trip to Montreal in April, and pledged to set up meetings 
for the Minister with U.S. aviation officials. 
 
--The Ambassador suggested that the Minister forward to the 
Embassy a template of a basic GRA aviation agreement for 
discussion during his visit to Washington. 
 
Tomas, who clearly was not expecting such concrete responses 
to his requests, acknowledged and agreed with the 
Ambassador's various proposals, declaring that Angola would 
attend both the Cape Town and Dakar conferences, would 
provide a template of a civil aviation agreement, would 
engage with the Embassy about possible calls for him to make 
in Washington, and would explore options for taking advantage 
of TSA expertise.  He thanked the Ambassador for "taking 
these very important steps" and believed that these would 
"radically change" the U.S.-Angola aviation relationship. 
 
¶4. (C) Minister Tomas was less dismissive of the EU ban than 
he was previously, nevertheless, he said he expected TAAG to 
be certified by INAVIC by the end of the month (NOTE: INAVIC 
has been issuing air-worthiness waivers for TAAG for the last 
year.  TAAG certification by INAVIC, in and of itself, will 
not assuage the EU.)  He stated that South African Airways 
was now working with TAAG, and a team of EU auditors was 
helping INAVIC prepare for a voluntary audit by the 
International Air Transport Association (IATA) in April, as 
well as an audit by ICAO in May.  He expressed his hope (not 
certitude) that with the results of the two audits Angola 
could petition the EU to lift its ban and then Angola would 
subsequently look toward the U.S. market. 
 
¶5. (C)  COMMENT: With Delta's plans now seemingly de-linked 
from TAAG in the eyes of the Minister, prospects are now a 
bit better that Delta flights to Angola will become a 
reality.  Post suspects that Ambassador Mozena's engagement 
with President Dos Santos (ref C) on behalf of Delta resulted 
in the Minister's about face.  It is likely that President 
Dos Santos understood more clearly then the Minister (or 
perhaps is more invested) that a U.S. carrier could attract 
more U.S. business to Angola, giving a boost to Angola's 
economic diversification goals.  We should move quickly to 
take advantage of the Minister's change in attitude here. END 
COMMENT 
 
 
MOZENA