Passenger traffic at the airports of Cape Verde has increased by 11% in 2010 from 1,445,535 to 1,604,607 passengers. The airports of Sal, Boavista and Praia were those who saw more movement. 

The figures were revealed by the ASA (National Company for Airports and Air Safety), which show that the results exceeded the forecasts of the company and confirm signs of recovery in activities of tourism and air transport industry.

The domestic passenger traffic grew at all airports in the country, continuing to lead the Airport of Praia with 282,445, followed by Sal with 215,719, with 179,133 San Vicente, Boavista with 69,386 and 69,110 with Fogo.

The international passenger traffic grew 12.2% and 9.9% domestic. The number of aircraft movements increased 7% and 9.1% internationally and 6.2% in domestic. In turn, the movement of aircraft in Sal Oceanic FIRs registered an increase of 4%.

Sal Airport handled the largest number of passengers (540,623) and 324,904 international (+6.6%) and 215,719 households (+6.6%). The Praia Airport handled a total of 503,660 passengers, 221,215 were international (+3.5%%) and 282,445 domestic traffic (+11.6%), and Boavista Airport ranked in third place with a total of 257,659 passengers, international and 188,273 (+28.7%%) and 69,386 domestic traffic (+14.9%). The airport in S. Vicente, which opened in December 23, 2009, recorded 11,376 international passengers and 179,133 domestic (+2.3%), making a total of 190,509 passengers (+8.8%). The airfields of São Filipe, São Nicolau and Maio grew by over 20%.

According to ASA, the charter airline owned by TUI continues to generate the most traffic to Cape Verde (314,441 passengers for the islands of Sal and Boavista), followed by TACV Cape Verde Airlines (197 200 passengers), TAP Portugal (123 221 passengers) NEOS SpA (63,562 passengers), SATA (51,726 passengers), TAAG Angola Airlines (16,609 passengers) and XLAirwaysFrance (13,445 passengers), among others.

In terms of origin / destination, Portugal was the country most traffic shared with Cape Verde (262 091 passengers, +17%). Second-placed England if 90,696 passengers, representing a decrease of -6.5%. Italy, France, Germany, USA and Senegal are the other countries of origin of travel.

As regards the movements of aircraft, airports in Cape Verde saw an overall increase of 7% in 2010, with more say in international business (+9.1%) than in the domestic (+6.2%). The fact noted are the significant increases of international movements in Sal (+8.9%) and Boavista (+18.6%), while the airfield at St. Philip had the highest growth rate of domestic movements (+42.8% ).

The movement of air cargo that had met a gradual decrease in recent years, increased significantly in 2010, ie +9.2%, exceeding the figure of three million six hundred thousand pounds of cargo, with higher expression in domestic operations (+14.4%).

(expressodasilhas)