Cape Verde airports with record number of almost 226,000 passengers in August

According to statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority (AAC), which regulates the sector in Cape Verde, the archipelago’s airports and airfields recorded 2,454 arrivals and departures of aircraft in August this year (an increase of 73.4% compared to the same month in 2021) on international and domestic flights.

The number of passengers boarding, landing, and in transit for the whole of last month was 58,719 on domestic flights and 167,279 on international flights (+198% compared to 2021), giving a total of 225,998 passengers, compared to only 92,627 in the same month of 2021.

This is the highest monthly figure since February 2020 – just before the Covid 19 pandemic restrictions – when Cape Verde airports and airfields handled 232,131 passengers and 2,748 aircraft.

Total passenger traffic at Cape Verde’s airports and airfields has risen sharply since the beginning of the year due to the recovery in tourism demand and already set a new record last July with more than 211,000 passengers since the beginning of the pandemic.

The total number of passengers at Cape Verde airports increased by 7 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, to more than 830,000, a result better than expected due to the impact of the pandemic.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the archipelago’s airports and aerodromes recorded 14,284 boardings and disembarkations (an increase of 8.5 percent compared to 2020) on international and domestic flights from January to December 2021.

The number of passengers boarding, landing and in transit last year was 287,752 on domestic flights and 542,488 on international flights, for a total of 830,240 passengers, compared to 775,998 in the same period of 2020 (+7%).

However, Cape Verde airports were only operating until March 2020, after suspending all domestic (until July) and international (until October) flights to contain the Covid 19 pandemic.

These numbers are still far from those before the Covid 19 pandemic, and from January to December 2019 alone, Cape Verde’s airports recorded 2,771,931 passengers on 35,002 movements on domestic and international flights.

Cape Verde recorded a record 819,000 tourists in 2019, a sector that guarantees 25% of the gross domestic product but is trying to recover after a total breakdown in March 2020 due to restrictions caused by the Covid 19 pandemic also affects the air transport and air navigation sector.

The Cape Verde government signed a contract on July 18 to concession the public airport service to the Vinci Group, which will manage the four international airports and three aerodromes for a period of 40 years, with a rent of 80 million euros.

The new company, which will manage the airports in Cape Verde, is 70 percent owned by Vinci Airports and 30 percent by Portugal’s ANA (which in turn has been 100 percent owned by Vinci since 2013).