TACV Cabo Verde Airlines will begin operating direct flights between Praia and London, the capital of the United Kingdom, on October 29. The Praia-London-Praia flights will take place every Monday, while on Wednesdays TACV will offer a Sal-London flight. Meanwhile, connections to Lisbon will increase considerably beginning October 28, when TAP Air Portugal will begin operating four weekly flights between Portuguese capital Lisbon and Praia. Despite this considerable increase in the availability of flights, ticket prices have ye to see a considerable decrease - TACV will fly to Lisbon for approximately 55,000 escudos round trip, while TAP will do the same route for 499 euros (the equivalent of 55,000 escudos).

Announcing the start of the Praia-London and Sal-London flight routes in a press conference, the president of investment and tourist promotion agency Cabo Verde Investimentos, Victor Fidalgo, affirmed that the flights will increase the competitiveness of Cape Verde’s real-estate market, a sector that is already in what he called “permanent ascension.”

TACV has joined Cabo Verde Investimentos in order to promote Cape Verde as a destination. The first steps toward this promotional drive were taken between September 28 and 30 at the Birmingham Real-Estate Fair in England, where the two institutions contacted various different promoters and announced the new flight routes.

“You cannot promote a destination for tourism or for investments if there is no transportation there. This is why Cabo Verde Investimentos is building a veritable partnership with TACV, and I believe that this association will allow us to increase our competitiveness, given that some of the constraints mentioned by investors and tourists are related to the reduced number of flights connecting Cape Verde to northern Europe,” said Victor Fidalgo, according to news agency Inforpress.

In the opinion of the president of Cabo Verde Investimentos, the new connection between Cape Verde and the United Kingdom “will also increase the islands’ competitiveness and the possibility of reaching the objective of bringing at least half a million tourists to the archipelago by 2010/2011.”

In order to absorb all of these visitors, Fidalgo also announced the creation of two new resorts on the island of Sal, Tortuga Beach and Dunas Beach, investments on the order of 35 million and 60 million euros, respectively.

Fidalgo also announced that TACV hopes to consolidate its position in the European market, particularly in Italy, Portugal, Spain and France.

At least in the case of Portugal, TACV will face additional competition from TAP Air Portugal beginning on October 28. The Portuguese airline will begin direct flights between Lisbon and Praia four times a week at a promotional price of 499 euros round trip. On the same day, TACV, in reaction to TAP’s promotion, will also reduce the price of its flights between Praia and the Portuguese capital to 55,000 escudos.

On TAP’s web site, customers may already make reservations on line for the Praia-Lisbon flights by clicking on the promotional ad the company has prepared for the kick-off of the flight route.

Source: A Semana