Cabo Verde Airlines, which has been without flights for three days, does not have a valid license to operate connections to Europe, but can do so with planes from other companies, according to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
A Third Country Operator authorization [TCO, na sigla em inglês] issued by EASA is a prerequisite to carry out commercial air transport operations to the European Union. Cabo Verde Airlines does not currently have this authorization and will only be able to resume its regular flights to Portugal as soon as it does,” a source from that European body, based in Cologne, Germany, told Lusa.
The flag carrier, renationalized precisely a year ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was not carrying out commercial flights from July 7 to 9, alleging “operational reasons”. The canceled flights, according to the company, have been restored since Sunday, July 10, but without any other official explanation about the case.
Lusa contacted the management of Cabo Verde Airlines, commercial name adopted by Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde (TACV), asking about the status of the company’s TCO license, which sent any clarification for later.
EASA and the operator are working constructively to solve the problem, but at the moment we cannot predict when the authorization will be granted”, described, in turn, the same source from the European organization to Lusa.
Without any official information on the case, the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV, opposition) has already gone ahead to demand explanations and liability for damage caused to passengers who have seen canceled flights.
“The amateurism and the culture of mediocrity that characterize the current TACV administration are not compatible with the management of a sector as specialized and complex as civil aviation,” accused the PAICV general secretary, Julião Varela.
At issue is the need for Cabo Verde Airlines to have a TCO license issued by EASA, which according to that body is not currently the case, at a time when since the resumption of commercial activity, in December 2021, after the covid pandemic -19 – did not fly since March 2020-, the company only flies (from Praia, Sal and São Vicente) to Lisbon, Portugal, so that license is needed.
However, since March, TACV has been operating a Boeing 737-700 belonging to Angola’s TAAG, loaned in wet leasea contractual regime in which an airline provides the aircraft, the crew, guarantees maintenance and supports the insurance of the aircraft, receiving payment for the hours operated by the operating company, in this case TACV.
An operator that is not the holder of a TCO authorization is authorized to carry out ‘wet lease’ services from an airline of the European Union or from a foreign airline that has a TCO authorization, contracting this airline to carry out services on its behalf”. he explained. same EASA source, guaranteeing that since July 7 no flight has been made with Cabo Verde Airlines as operator, despite the fact that as operator it is making these flights to Portugal.
The TAAG of Angola is part of the 38-page list with companies from around the world outside the European Union with an EASA TCO license, according to documentation consulted by Lusa, which explains the resumption of TACV flights, even without this certificate as an operator. , because it is a plane from the Angolan company contracted by the Cape Verdean company.
Source: Observadora
