TACV

TACV Cabo Verde Airlines

IATA ICAO Callsign VR TCV CABOVERDE
Founded	1958
Hubs	Amílcar Cabral International Airport Praia International Airport
Focus cities	São Pedro Airport Portela Airport
Frequent-flyer program	TACV Club
Fleet size	1
Destinations	17
Company slogan	O prazer de viajar bem ("A pleasurable way of flying ")
Headquarters	Praia, Cape Verde
Key people	José Luís Sá Nogueira (CEO)
Website	flytacv.com

TACV Cabo Verde Airlines (TACV is an abbreviation for Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde, meaning “Air Transportation of Cape Verde” in Portuguese) is a scheduled and charter, passenger and cargo airline based in Praia, Cape Verde.^[1] It is the national flag carrier of Cape Verde, operating inter-island services and flights to Europe, North America, South America and the West African mainland. Its main base is Sal Airport, with smaller ones at Praia International Airport and São Pedro Airport. TACV is also a ground handling company serving all airports in Cape Verde.

History

TACV was established in 1958. In July 1975, following the independence of Cape Verde, the airline was designated as the national carrier and became a public (state-owned) company in 1983. It employs 788 staff. The Cape Verdean government is currently preparing the airline for privatization. The TACV logo includes a blue wing with seven lines that represent the number of domestic inter-island flights offered by the airline. Until 1984, it served with 8 of the 9 inhabited islands, no flight ever connected with Brava then.

European flights began in 1985, with Lisbon as first European destination of TACV. Also that year, the airline began services to Boston, Massachusetts, USA using a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 provided by LAM Mozambique Airlines. All of its international flights were at Sal until 2004. In 1996 TACV got its first Boeing 757-200, brand new and directly from the Boeing factory, in Seattle, considered as “the pride and joy of Cape Verde Airlines", baptized with the name B.Leza. With B.Leza (registration D4-CBG), TACV begins flying to Europe with its own aircraft and crew.

Until 1998, it was the country's only airline until Cabo Verde Express started airline operations.

Poor safety standards at some of its airports, Brava (Esperadinha) and Santo Antão (Agostinho Neto) eliminiated every flight with those islands with TACV, Brava's Airport closed in 2003 while Santo Antão's closed in 2007.

In 2004, another Boeing 757-200 named Emigranti (registration D4-CBP) joined the TACV fleet. For several years, the Boeing 757 pair operated all of TACV's international routes before one being replaced by two smaller leased Boeing 737-800 which however meanwhile have been phased out again.^[2]

In 2009, TACV's international flights would serve at São Vicente at the airport now called Cesária Évora Airport.

In June 2015, the airline opened two new air routes, Recife and with Providence, Rhode Island, the latter replaced Boston's Logan Airport as its flight, also its flight with Bissau resumed and serves as a biweekly flights via Dakar, operated by the ATR 72 aircraft.

TACV in the near future

Restructuring and privatisation of TACV means TACV will discontinue all inter-island operations in August 2017. Main focus will be Cape Verde strategic position as hub for mid Atlantic operations. Binter CV will take over inter-island services, establish a partnership covering TACV's international services, allowing TACV to offer connections to domestic destinations and will seek to strengthen inter-island connections, with the aim to provide regular services to all airports in Cape Verde.

In August 2017, the Cape Verdean government signed an agreement with Loftleideir Icelandic, part of the Icelandair Group, which turns the administration of TACV to the icelandic group. The new administration plans include discontinue the hub at Praia International Airport focusing all of the airline's operations at Amílcar Cabral International Airport and from there serve as a connecting hub between the Americas, Europe and Africa.^[3][4]

Destinations

A TACV ATR-42 previously operated on domestic flights

As of August 2017, TACV serves 10 international destinations in Europe, Africa, North America and South America.^[5]

Codeshare agreements

As of May 2017, TACV Cabo Verde Airlines had codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

• Cabo Verde Express
• TAP Portugal

Current fleet

TACV Boeing 757-200

As of August 2017, the TACV fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[6]

Incidents and accidents

• On 28 September 1998, a TACV de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (registered D4-CAX) carrying Carlos Veiga, then Prime Minister of Cape Verde, 18 other passengers and three crew members capt/instructor Socorro, first officer Elianne and third cockpit crew, crash-landed at Francisco Mendes Airport (serving Praia at that time) during a landing attempt in stormy weather, in which one bodyguard of the minister was killed. Four other people were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair. Upon approach following the flight from Preguiça Airport, the aircraft had been hit by a gust of wind in an instant when the pilots intended to execute a left turn, and forced down.^[7]
• On 7 August 1999 at 12:02 local time, the domestic TACV Flight 5002 from São Pedro Airport to Agostinho Neto Airport crashed into a mountain on Santo Antão island at an altitude of 1370 metres, killing the 16 passengers and 2 crew members on board. The domestic flight had been carried out using a Dornier Do 228 (registered D4-CBC) on this day. Due to bad weather conditions with rain and fog, the pilot was prevented from landing at the destination airport (which was only VFR-certified), so he had decided to return to São Pedro. The aircrash marked the worst aviation accident in the history of both Cape Verde and TACV.^[8]
• On 7 October 2005, the right main landing gear of TACV ATR 42 collapsed during landing in Dakar, Senegal for a regular passenger flight from Praia^[9]
• On May 13, 2015 at 23:20 local time, TACV Boeing 757 (D4-CBP) with 96 passengers on board crash landed at Fortaleza International Airport. The damage was done to the flaps (a component of the wing that supports the stability and speed of the flight) which was detected by the crew. Its 96 passengers had to wait for a week in Ceará's capital, because there was no other route. Later, it made the flight back to Praia without passengers to finish its maintenance. The passengers only boarded back to their destination eight days later on May 21.^[10]

References

External links

Media related to TACV at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website