Guinea-Bissau in partnership to launch airline

The government of Guinea-Bissau is partnering Romanian group Tender to launch its own airline called Air Guinea-Bissau, said the Secretary of State for Transport and Communications last week in Bissau.
João Bernardo Vieira said that for now the government holds a 40 percent stake in the airline with the remaining 60 percent in the hands of the Romanian group.
Air Guinea-Bissau will start operating with two aircraft and, according to the secretary of state, the routes identified by the Civil Aviation Agency are Bissau to Dakar, Bissau to Lisbon and Bissau to Praia.
“We have an ambition to link the sub-region, specifically Conakry and Banjul and we think that within a year we will be able to make the connection between Bissau and Fortaleza (Brazil),” said Vieira.
The Secretary of State said that, pending the approval of the new airline by the International Civil Aviation Organization, “we will continue to develop the necessary steps so that the Air Guinea-Bissau is able to start operating.”
The Tender group controls several companies operating in areas such as energy, oil and gas industry services, geological prospecting, road infrastructure, real estate, agriculture, tourism and aviation, and is present in African countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast. MDT/Macauhub