Cabo Verde Airlines – Is It Still ‘Africa’s Icelandair’?

Cabo Verde Airlines has always been a small and financially poor airline with inconsistent development. And while all airlines have suffered from the pandemic, it appears to be worse hit than most owing to a very long-term period of no flying. And this week, the country’s government said it is unlikely to fly for another six months. We look at ‘Africa’s Icelandair’.

Grand plan

Cape Verde is located in the Atlantic Ocean, not far from the coast of West Africa. A former Portuguese colony, it has strong connections with Portugal, including diaspora. Significantly, it is positioned within narrowbody range of Europe, North America, and South America.

Within 4,000 miles of Sal, the hub of Cabo Verde Airlines, are all relevant areas of Europe and large amounts of South America, Africa, and the Eastern USA. The Brazilian city of Fortazela, for example, is just 1,767 miles away, closer than Lisbon.

Geographic location

This geographic convenience was not lost on Loftleidir Cabo Verde, which acquired 51% of the ailing carrier in 2019. Most of Loftleidir Cabo Verde is owned by Loftleidir Icelandic, which the Icelandair Group owns.

And despite ownership problems, it is not enormously surprising that Icelandair was recruited to do something similar to what it does successfully between Europe and North America.

Africa’s Icelandair

Just over a month ago, in July 2021, the Cape Verde Government reiterated its intention to create a hub to benefit from its obvious position atop various traffic flows, such as Europe to South America and the US to Africa. This has been said for years, but perhaps it will get back on course and finally be realized.

And if it happens, transit passengers and diaspora from Portugal and the US and beyond will be crucial in its quest to become Africa’s Icelandair. Indeed, 100,000+ American Cape Verdeans live in the US, mainly in New England, which accounted for its long-running Boston service. This is similar to Azores Airlines.

Tourism will also be key. Pre-COVID, Cape Verde forecast three million tourists by 2030, up fewer than one million in 2018, although other operators have generally delivered tourists. As the carrier’s first CEO, under Loftleidir Cabo Verde ownership, said:

“Our goal is to keep growing in a sustainable way, emulating Icelandair’s successful business model… we now have a new mission, which is to connect these four continents.”

Connecting four continents

In 2019, Cabo Verde’s international network comprised 12 routes, as shown on the map above. Luanda, Angola, was planned, with connections to Portugal, although this routing was not as convenient or obvious as others. Indeed, some routes were virtually on the great circle, such as:

• Washington-Sal-Lagos: 74 miles longer than a non-stop would be
• Lisbon-Sal-Salvador: deviates by one mile
• Paris-Sal-Porto Alegre: three miles longer than a non-stop would be

Set up for transit passengers

The carrier had two extremely coordinated waves each day with one to two hours on the ground, enabling quick and easy connections. Arrivals from Africa and South America landed around 06:30 to 07:30 and departed soon after to Europe and the USA. These arrived back in the mid-evening – the next day for the USA – to connect onwards. For example:

• Recife-Sal-Lisbon: 01:05-07:10; 08:40-14:45
• Lisbon-Sal-Recife: 17:40-19:50; 21:50-00:02+1 (the next day)

Do you think the airline’s Sal hub will resume? Let us know in the comments.

Source: https://simpleflying.com/cabo-verde-airlines-icelandair/