The Minister of Communities of Cape Verde, Jorge Santos, announced this Saturday in Paris that TACV air links between Praia, Sal and Sao Vicente and the French capital will be restored from 23 July.
“We yesterday [sexta-feira] we have presented the new TACV strategy at the embassy and the administration has announced a flight for July 23, 2023 between Praia, Sal and Sao Vicente and Paris on a Boeing B Max which allows intercontinental flights. This is a giant step towards reconnecting Cape Verde with its diaspora,” Cape Verde’s Minister for Communities said in a statement to Agência Lusa.
The Minister is in the French capital to participate in the Cabo Verde Business Connect fair, which runs from this Saturday to Sunday, the main mission of which is to bring together Cape Verdean companies and potential investors from the Cape Verdean community in France and from other diasporas . .
For the Minister, the restoration of this air service via Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde (TACV) is important as France is one of the epicenters of the Cape Verdean diaspora in Europe, with an estimated 100,000 Cape Verdeans and their descendants. a country.
“France is one of the epicenters of the movement and mobility of our community in Europe. This is a project that the State of Cape Verde is developing with great responsibility, and that only in exceptional cases this will not happen,” he said.
TACV already operates flights to Portugal and, after the resumption of the connection with Paris, wants to return to the connection with Boston, which, according to the minister, is the next goal.
TACV was sold (51%) to Icelandic investors and renationalized in July 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic, with flights only resuming in December 2021.
In March 2019, the State of Cape Verde sold 51% of TACV for €1.3 million to Lofleidir Cabo Verde, 70% owned by Loftleidir Icelandic EHF (the Icelandair group that acquired 36% of Cabo Verde Airlines, the company’s trade name) and 30% – Icelandic entrepreneurs with experience in the aviation sector (who took the remaining 15% of the privatized share of 51%).