Air and sea connections between the islands, which had been suspended for more than three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have now been resumed with a series of health control measures and “redoubled precautions”.
Speaking to Inforpress, the director of Inter-Cape Transport in Cape Verde (TICV), Luís Quinta, explained that this Wednesday three destinations are planned: Praia / Sal at 07:00, Praia / São Nicolau at 12:15 and Praia / São Vicente at 14:35.
The head of the former company Binter Cabo Verde, assured that the occupancy rate has varied with destinations at 50, 60 and 80%, stressing that the Praia / São Vicente route is completely full.
“International flights are not yet open, so it has had a big impact on our number of passengers at the level of emigrants, tourists and professionals who want to do work in Cape Verde, and we expect that in August it will start to increase even more. demand ”, he said.
Speaking to Lusa, Luís Quinta, director general of TICV (ex-Binter CV), the only airline that operates domestic connections in Cape Verde, explained that six flights are scheduled for today (roundtrip) , from Praia to the islands of Sal, São Nicolau and São Vicente.
“We estimate to carry 282 passengers on this day, corresponding to 70% occupancy. It was something that already met our predictions for the first week. We are predicting that the occupation will decrease at the end of the first four days of recovery and until the return of international flights ”, said the official.
Luís Quinta explained that until the end of July, the company had scheduled 82 flights connecting the various islands of the archipelago, which represents “only 15% of the number of flights when compared to July 2019”, before the COVID-19 pandemic .
According to information made available on the Cape Verde Interilhas website (CV Interilhas), for this Wednesday the connection Praia / Maio is expected from 07.00.
With the resumption of inter-island air and sea connections, passengers who want to leave the islands of Santiago and Sal will have to present rapid tests of COVID-19 with negative results.
Voos interilhas e ligações marítimas recomeçam hoje – Expresso das Ilhas