Airport and Air Security company ASA and the civil Aviation Agency will hold a test flight today, May 13, at Maio airport. An aircraft owned by private airline Cabo Verde Express will take off from Sal’s Amílcar Cabral International Airport this afternoon and land at the Maio airport at 2:30 pm.

The operation will be used to confirm the quality of the recently restored runway, as well as that of the work carried out in the airport’s maneuvering area. The meteorological and flight information systems will also be tested. Commercial flights are expected to resume to and from the island on Friday, May 16. A Semana Online has learned, however, that due to problems related to marine transportation between Praia and the nearby island of Maio, the new runway may not be painted in time for the test flight, as the materials arrived behind schedule.

Merchant Anete Frederico, who resides in the town of Porto Inglês, the island’s main population center, dreams of the day air connections resume, as the difficulties in Maio’s transportation system have gravely affected tourism on the island. “With the resumption of flights, Maio will have a lot of tourists again. Right now the island is empty even on the weekends, when it should be full,” she says.

Source: A Semana