TACV calls on shareholders to approve business plan by 2027

TACV will discuss and vote, in an extraordinary general meeting, on May 3, the business plan until 2027, at a time when it is preparing to incorporate a second aircraft into the fleet.

According to the call for this extraordinary general meeting, the management of Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde (TACV), 90% owned by the State and the rest by emigrants, in addition to the “appreciation and deliberation” on the 2023-2027 business plan, the 2020 report and accounts and the proposal for applying the results, among other matters, will be discussed and voted on.

TACV resumed operations, after the suspension of all activities in March 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic and renationalization the following year, initially with flights only between Praia and Lisbon, since the end of December 2021. aircraft, flights were extended in 2022 from the islands of São Vicente and Sal to the Portuguese capital.

The company announced on April 7 that it will have a second aircraft in the fleet, a Boeing 737-8 MAX, allowing customers to choose its official name.

“Cabo Verde Airlines [TACV's commercial name] wants, once again, to give voice to its customers, and for that reason we are launching a public voting campaign to choose the name of our newest Boeing 737-8 MAX”, announced .

Among the names “suggested” by employees, Cabo Verde Airlines says that “three stood out” and are in public voting through the company’s social networks until this week: “Cidade Velha”, a place classified as a World Heritage Site, “Morabeza” , in an allusion to the Cape Verdean welcome, and “Esperança”.

The company did not provide information about the expected arrival of the new plane or about its origin.

The Minister of Transport and Tourism stated in November that, since the resumption, the airline TACV has already transported - until then - 28,000 passengers and that negotiations were underway to rent a second aircraft to connect to Boston.

“The operation to Boston and the operation to Brazil are part of TACV's plan for the near future. We are making a huge effort (...), the Government has been giving support and injecting money into the company to be able to connect the company with the diaspora, to be able to bring and encourage this interconnection with the diaspora more and more, in the midst of of all this turbulence”, said minister Carlos Santos, when answering questions from deputies in parliament.

The minister added that TACV was negotiating with leasing companies in the sector to supply a second aircraft, to add to the Boeing 737-700 leased since March 2022 by the Cape Verdean flag company to the Angolan counterpart TAAG and which ensures connections from Cape Verde to Portugal.

This second aircraft, he clarified, will make it possible to resume connections with Boston, in the United States of America, where the largest Cape Verdean community in the diaspora resides, but also with Brazil and France.

“We hope that as soon as possible we will be able to have this second aircraft so that we can fulfill this desideratum which is to connect the diaspora with Cape Verde. And it is with this vision that the Government is betting on TACV so that we can have a company that can prevent the monopoly of international lines”, he said.

“You can see that in this short time TACV has already managed to transport 28,000 passengers. It means that there are 28,000 Cape Verdean emigrants, residents and tourists who came to Cape Verde at affordable prices of around 500 euros. This is work, this means that we are working hard and with the vision of having our diaspora linked to us”, he also underlined.

In March 2019, the State of Cape Verde sold 51% of TACV for 1.3 million euros to Lofleidir Cabo Verde, a company 70% owned by Loftleidir Icelandic EHF (Icelandair group, which took 36% of Cabo Verde Airlines – commercial name of the company) and 30% by Icelandic entrepreneurs with experience in the aviation sector (who took over the remaining 15% of the privatized 51% share).

The State, which renationalized the company in July 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic, will inject 1 billion escudos annually into TACV, to guarantee the stability and recovery of the airline, before reprivatizing it in 2024, announced in September the minister Carlos Santos.

“By 2024, it is our forecast to stabilize the company, to have the company attractive so that it can be privatised”, announced minister Carlos Santos, confirming that the Government's accounts foresee a global injection of 3,000 million escudos, in three years, including 2022.