According to information from the agency that regulates the sector in Cape Verde, in October there was a global movement of 36,651 passengers on domestic flights, boarding and disembarking, at four international airports and three airfields in the country.
As each passenger is counted when boarding and disembarking (different airports), this is a movement equivalent to 18,325 passengers on domestic flights in a month.
This movement compares with the 13,068 passengers in October 2021 (+40.2%), a period still affected by the restrictions imposed in the face of covid-19, and with the record (since the beginning of the pandemic) of almost 30,000 in August 2022.
The performance in October is still far from the same month in 2019, before the effects of the pandemic, when domestic air connections handled more than 30,000 passengers in a month.
Last October, there were still 659 domestic flights in Cape Verde, against 658 in the same month of 2021.
Domestic flights were operated since May 17, 2021 only by Angolan BestFly, under a six-month emergency concession granted by the Cape Verdean Government.
As of October 24, BestFly started to operate only with Transportes Interilhas de Cabo Verde (TICV, a company it acquired in July 2021), ending the emergency concession regime.
The Angolan group BestFly bought more than a year ago 70% of the share capital of TICV from the Spaniards of Binter, with the remaining 30% with the Cape Verdean State, and concentrated domestic air connections only on TICV, which had not operated commercial flights since May 16, 2021.
The Cape Verdean Transport Minister, Carlos Santos, announced on 11 November that TICV will have a third aircraft before 15 December, to respond to increased demand.
“I have information that the TICV is thinking of bringing the third aircraft, it was only planned to start on December 15, but they want to bring it sooner, precisely to respond to this demand”, Carlos Santos said, in response to questions from deputies in the parliament.
The minister said that the company transported 206,000 passengers between January and October this year, more than double the 76,000 in the same period last year.
“It means that the flow of passengers is starting to increase and is increasing, and very well, for the benefit of all of us”, stressed the also minister of Tourism, stating that the operator’s concern is to respond to the increase in demand.
“We are working with the company so that the high season of this winter, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, is a peaceful time”, said the member of the Government.
In 2020, domestic flights in Cape Verde, operated then only by TICV, handled around 125 thousand passengers, 286 thousand less (-230%) compared to the previous year, given the restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, and in 2021 rose to 143,876 passengers.
In 2017, passengers on domestic air connections in Cape Verde reached a record of almost 465,000 (total movement of 929,595 departures and arrivals), with more than 10,200 flights.
ANGOAVIAÇÃO 