Cape Verde wants low cost flights

The Government of Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) is “completely open” to low cost flights and plans to boost an agreement with the European Union (EU) with this in mind, said the Cape Verdean Minister of Infrastructure and the Maritime Economy, Sara Lopes.
Lopes, who was speaking to Portuguese news agency Lusa on the sidelines of the Fifth Community Meeting of Lusophone Civil Aviation Authorities (CAACL), in Praia, argued that competition and economic freedoms, for an island and small country like Cape Verde, will only bring advantages.
“Cabo Verde is completely open. We have been proposing a vertical agreement to the European Union for some time. We started with some shyness, but we want to intensify this dialogue, because we think that a small country like Cabo Verde, with such a small scale, will only gain with air freedom,” he said.
In addition to flagship airline TACV, only four airlines – TAP, TAAG, Air Senegal and Royal Air Maroc – offer scheduled flights to the islands.
“Currently, Cabo Verde only has daily direct connections to Lisbon. We have no more. This indicator should raise questions at all levels. It is a very low level of accessibility and we have to solve this in the coming years. We believe that ‘low cost’ is the solution also to increase our tourism and our consumer market,” concluded the Minister of Infrastructure and Maritime Economy, Sara Lopes. MDT/Macauhub