The first low cost flight to Cape Verde from Portugal will take place on October 29th, connecting Lisbon to the island of Sal, followed by the Porto/Sal connection the following day, EasyJet announced this Wednesday.
The connection between Portugal and Cape Verde will be EasyJet’s first in West Africa and the first route beyond the Sahara, said the company’s general director in Portugal, José Lopes.
From Thursday onwards, 50,000 tickets will be put on sale for the winter, with 50,000 tickets for the summer expected to go on sale later.
EasyJet will offer four weekly flights between Lisbon and Sal, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Two weekly flights will depart from Porto, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, according to the general director of EasyJet in Portugal.
Each flight will start at 83.99 euros and José Lopes assured that, in terms of accommodation, “the available offer is more than necessary for the seats that will be available”, which are 100 thousand per year.
Confident that the connections will be “a success”, José Lopes has not said, for now, whether and which other Cape Verdean islands could be the target of new routes.
“After these routes are consolidated, we can look at other destinations in Cape Verde”, he told journalists.
Present at the meeting on behalf of the Cape Verdean Government, the ambassador of Cape Verde in Lisbon, Eurico Monteiro, highlighted that it was “lucky” that the first low-cost flights to Cape Verde were provided by “one of the largest and most prestigious companies “.
“Having this alternative is good for Cape Verde, for tourism in Cape Verde, for the Cape Verdean diaspora and for anyone who wants to get to know Cape Verde,” said the diplomat.
In a message contained in the note sent to the media by the company about the presentation ceremony of these new routes, Cape Verde’s Minister of Tourism and Transport, Carlos Santos, said that “the addition of Cape Verde to EasyJet’s route network represents a new chapter in the country’s connectivity with the world and, inevitably, the beginning of a new stage in tourism”.
“It will allow us to create new transport solutions for our emigrants, thus facilitating their connection with the motherland and consequently increasing their investments in the country”, he said, adding: “It will allow businessmen, cultural agents, researchers and students also have access to more balanced and competitive rates”.
