In a note on its official website, an airline with a Cape Verdean flag said that the first flight would take place on February 3rd, departing Lisbon and bound for the city of Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente.

The plane will return to Lisbon the following day, February 4th, according to the same airline.

Cabo Verde Airlines resumed operations on the Lisbon-Praia route on December 29, coinciding with the Cape Verdean airline’s 63rd anniversary.

Last week, after an extraordinary general meeting, the president of CVA, Sara Pires, also predicted for February the return of flights on the Lisbon – Sal route, and between Praia and Boston (United States of America) in the second quarter.

Also during this year, Sara Pires stated that a Cape Verdean-flag carrier intends to resume connections to Paris and the Brazilian market.

The company resumed operations with a plane, with two weekly connections between Praia and Lisbon, but according to the president, it should introduce a new device in the second quarter of next year and by the end of 2023 it will have three planes flying with its cores.

This entire recovery plan, he warned, is conditioned by the situation of the covid-19 pandemic at the moment, with the resurgence of new cases not only in Cape Verde, with the circulation of the Ómicron variant.

Previously, the Government had indicated the resumption of Air Transport of Cape Verde (TACV), which has not operated commercial flights since March 2020, due to the covid-19 pandemic, during the first quarter of 2022.

In March 2019, the State of Cape Verde sold 51% of TACV for 1.3 million euros to Lofleidir Cabo Verde, a company 70% held by Loftleidir Icelandic EHF (Icelandair group, which held 36% of Cape Verde Airlines – company’s trade name) and by 30% by Icelandic entrepreneurs with experience in the aviation sector (who took over the remaining 15% of the privatized 51% share).

On July 6, the Cape Verdean state assumed a 51% position in TACV, alleging several breaches in management and immediately dissolving the social bodies.

On November 26, Loftleidir Cape Verde announced that it had initiated an arbitration proceeding against the Cape Verdean State alleging “violation of the agreements entered into between the parties”, in light of the renationalization of the flagship airline TACV.

RIPE // LFS