"It will allow us to maintain our operation in a sustainable way, even when the season is low", said the chairman of the Board of Directors of the BestFly group, Nuno Pereira, on the sidelines of the reception of the company's first Embraer 190 (E-190) jet. and the first certified by the Civil Aviation Agency (AAC) of Cape Verde, which arrived at Praia airport today, around 8:00 pm local time.
The administrator anticipated that the first Cape Verdean E-190 should start commercial operation in July, after the completion of certification in Cape Verde and international flights, foreseeing that it will connect the West African coast, namely Bissau, to Praia and Portugal (Ponta Delgada and Lisbon), but also Angola, Nigeria and Senegal.
The plan for the summer 2022 operation of the new E-190, presented during the ceremony, specifically foresees, in a "star shape", from Cape Verde, connections Praia – Luanda, Praia – Ponta Delgada, Praia – Dakar , Praia – Lisbon, Praia – Lagos, Praia – Bissau, Dakar – Bissau, Luanda – Accra and Sal – Lisbon.
"Because all transport must be intermodal and cannot be isolated", said Nuno Pereira, guaranteeing that this operation will involve partnerships with the state-owned Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde (TACV) and the Azorean SATA.
"By the end of the year, we have in our business plan the project to increase our fleet with one more E-190 and with two Twin Otter aircraft, with a smaller capacity of 19 seats, in order to complement the existing need to make medical evacuations, specific aid on specific islands", said Alcinda Pereira, executive director of the Angolan group.
In the first year of regular flights in Cape Verde, the BestFly group carried out, in addition to medical evacuations on regular flights, 35 'charter' flights to transport patients in serious condition, at the request of the health authorities, justifying with this need the acquisition of the two Twin Otter aircraft, as well as flights to islands with less demand or in low season, for "significantly reducing" costs.
"It is our obligation to reduce the State's costs with medical evacuations", said Nuno Pereira, guaranteeing that with these new, smaller planes, it will not be necessary to divert aircraft that guarantee regular flights from the commercial service, as happened.
BestFly operates domestic flights in Cape Verde with two ATR 72-600 of its own - through the national air operator TICV -, having carried out more than 3,400 flights between the Cape Verdean islands in the first year of operation and transported more than 170,000 passengers, with an average occupancy rate of almost 71 percent (from May 17, 2021 to May 17, 2022).
The BestFly group started its activity in Cape Verde, on domestic flights, on May 17, 2021, with an emergency concession of six months, after the departure of the Spanish Binter - which was also the only operator -, and in July of the same year bought TICV, an air operator certified by AAC (held until then by Binter), with the intention of "concentrating activity on the single brand BestFly".
"Bestfly did not need any subsidy from the State of Cape Verde. And this is very important", underlined Nuno Pereira.
The State of Cape Verde owns 30 percent of the air operator TICV, with the remaining 70 percent in the hands of BestFly.
The new E-190 aircraft that arrived at Praia International Airport was contracted on a 'leasing' basis at the end of last April and the completion of the certification process by AAC, with the support of the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) and the group's professionals in Cape Verde and Angola, allowed them to move to the country.
"A company of Africans, by Africans, for Africans", said Nuno Pereira, noting that the group of Angolan origin is present in several countries, in Africa, America and Europe.
