Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Expresso das Ilhas
Published on 2024-04-10 08:43:49
The airline Bestfly, which is responsible for inter-island flights in Cape Verde and has suspended its flights, announced on Tuesday in a statement that it plans to resume connecting the islands shortly.
The company stated that “an aircraft is being mobilized for Cape Verde” while its own planes are undergoing maintenance, adding that “the operation of TICV [Transportes Interilhas de Cabo Verde, the official designation] will be regularized promptly,” without indicating specific dates.
The plane is coming from South Africa and will have a capacity of 50 passengers.
The suspension of flights from the inter-island service concessionaire comes after several months of constraints, with cancellations and delays due to a lack of airplanes.
At the end of February, in response to the problems and complaints from the population, the state-owned airline Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde (TACV), which is dedicated to international flights, leased planes from Air Senegal and started operating between the islands.
The Minister of Tourism and Transport, Carlos Santos, acknowledged at the time the “hitches” that have been occurring in inter-island transportation, which he justified by the “growing” tourist demand, but also by the “limited capacity” of Bestfly.
“We have observed this mismatch between supply and demand, which is why the Government has already approved a proposal to enhance the inter-island flight offering presented by TACV, in order to provide greater availability for all the islands and improve connectivity,” the minister stated.
Read the original article(Portuguese) on Expresso das Ilhas
