[9] The origins of the carrier can be traced back to 1937, when the president of Portugal Óscar Carmona asked Joaquim de Almeida Baltazar to create an airline in Angola.

[11][12][13] It was owned and run by the government, which authorised the acquisition of three Dragons and two Junkers Ju 52s, although the latter two aircraft were not delivered due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

[10] The first routes to be operated were founded by the Aero Club of Angola and included two main lines: one running between Luanda and Pointe Noire, having connections with Aeromaritime services to Europe, and the other being Luanda–Benguela–Lobito that was later extended to Moçâmedes.

[14] Also in that year, the company extended the Leopoldville route further east, serving Lourenço Marques, but this destination was later abandoned due to poor financial performance.

[15] DTA also operated a route linking Luanda with Lourenço Marques via Livingstone between 1951 and 1952; poor sales prompted the airline to terminate the service.

[19] Following the rise to power of the communists, that year the country gained independence from Portugal; the airline became Angola's flag carrier in October.

[20] In January 1976 (1976-01), the delivery of two Boeing 737-200Cs was blocked by the US State Department;[21] the embargo was lifted two months later following the end of the civil war in the country.

[23] In February the same year, an ex-Allegheny Airlines Fairchild FH-227 on delivery flight to Suidwes Lugdiens was forced to land at Luanda while flying over Angolan territory.

[24] The country seized control of the aircraft, which was later reported to be in service with TAAG, along with an ex-Argentine Air Force Caravelle and two ex-THY Turkish Airlines F-27s.

[25] Three Yak-40s entered the fleet in 1977, along with other Soviet-built aircraft;[20] late this year, an ex-British Caledonian Airways Boeing 707-320C was sold to TAAG.

[30] On 21 July 1988, a Boeing 707 freighter owned by the airline crashed 20 kilometres (12 mi) away from Murtala Muhammed International Airport; six crewmembers lost their lives in the accident.

The carrier's network comprised 18 domestic points in Angola served from Luanda plus international flights to Berlin-Schonefeld, Brazzaville, Havana, Kinshasa, Lisbon, Lusaka, Maputo, Moscow, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sal and Sao Tome.

[36][37] One of these Boeing 777-200ERs established a record-breaking distance for the delivery of the type, when it flew 12,860 kilometres (6,940 nmi; 7,990 mi) between Seattle and Luanda in 16 hours and 47 minutes.

[39] In June the same year, the airline received its first newly acquired Boeing 777-300ER, out of two ordered in October 2009; TAAG became the first African carrier in purchasing and operating this type of aircraft.

[74][75] At the same time, the United Kingdom barred TAAG from flying into its territory, just before the airline was about to start services to London-Gatwick; in retaliation, Angola banned British Airways from landing within the country's borders.

[76] To continue operating flights to Europe, TAAG wet-leased a Boeing 747-400 from South African Airways (SAA).

[81] In July 2009 (2009-07), TAAG received permission to operate flights to Europe under restricted conditions, as it was allowed to fly only into Portugal and using only its three Boeing 777s.

[54] After nearly two years of being banned from EU airspace, TAAG deployed its own aircraft on the European corridor immediately.

[55][85][86] Also in November 2009, TAAG restarted services to Havana; many Cuban doctors and teachers reside in Angola and the flight exists to help transport them.

[87] In late March 2010, restrictions over TAAG operations were relaxed again following the announcement the airline could fly its Boeing 777-200ERs and 737-700s to all European airports.

[56][88] In December 2010, two engine incidents involving TAAG's Boeing 777-200ERs forced the carrier to ground the three aircraft of the type.

[93][73] In late September 2014 (2014-09), a ten-year management concession agreement between Emirates and the Government of Angola was signed; the deal also covered flight codesharing and the coordination of frequent flier programmes.

[94][95] In the first full year of operation under the agreement, annual losses were cut from $175m to $5m; the Ernst & Young-audited figures for January to December 2016 were approved at the airline's Board meeting on 9 March 2017.

[96] The contract was unilaterally terminated by Emirates in 2017 after the Emirati carrier found difficulties in expatriating around US$340 million in revenues from Angola.

[104] During May 2023 the airline released its financial performance for the previous year, stating a profit of 460,000,000 kwanzas, or roughly USD$800,000.

[134] As of October 2014[update], TAAG Angola Airlines serves 31 destinations, including 13 domestic, 11 in Africa, three in Latin America, two in Schengen Europe, and three in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.