Binter Canarias expects Cape Verde unit launch by 2H

Binter Canarias (NT, Las Palmas) president, Pedro Agustin del Castillo, says he expects the carrier's nascent Cape Verdian start-up Binter CV (Praia) to complete its certification with the country's civil aviation authority (Agência de Aviação Civil - AAC) and to start commercial operations within the next two months.

Binter CV was originally expected to have commenced operations by the end of last year but has since deferred those plans. Once operational, it will offer scheduled inter-island passenger flights as well as flights between the Cape Verdian archipelago, situated 500km west of Senegal, and mainland Africa.

Initial plans had called for Binter CV to employ eighty locals and would have been equipped with a CRJ-900 sourced from Binter Canarias before being replaced with two ATR72-600s.

Latvian ACMI/charter specialist SmartLynx Airlines (6Y, Riga) recently unveiled its SmartLynx Airlines Cabo Verde (LCV, Sal) unit which now plans to flights between Europe and the Cape Verde Islands using a single A320-200, D4-CBZ (cn 359).

ch aviation