Passengers felt ignored and disregarded by the government due to the lack of explanations. “They are running away like rats” and “the government is playing with the people” were some of the criticisms.
The state-owned company Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde (TACV) cancelled all flights between islands in Cape Verde on Monday, without any information, provoking anger and complaints from countless people.
TACV is the only company that makes national calls.
The breakdowns have been repeated for several months and Monday’s incident is the latest in a chronic transport crisis in the archipelago.
“We found out that the flights were cancelled when we arrived here and we saw [a indicação] on the airport screen, but nobody has told us anything yet,” Manuel Duarte told Lusa, at Nelson Mandela International Airport, in the city of Praia, with a reserved ticket, along with four other people, to return to work on the island of São Vicente.
“We are here as ignorants, waiting, as if we were hitchhiking.. Even if that were the case, we should be respected. To get out of here, we need to have information. We are from the island of São Vicente and we have nowhere to go,” he said, after more than two hours of waiting.
Complaints are mounting: “I am now embarrassed to speak out, because politicians say everything is fine,” she said.
“We are all four athletes, we go to São Vicente to work, we are going to miss a day of work today and maybe tomorrow because I don’t know when we will get out of here. They run away like mice, no one says anything.”I want you to tell me something,” he said.
On the airport information screen, all domestic flights for the day are cancelled, which has angered several people.
Another passenger is Elizito Pina, a businessman who was travelling to a music festival on the island of Boavista, but on Monday found his flights cancelled and without any information from the company.
“We arrived here to check in and out of nowhere they stopped. We were left here waiting. Then they announced over the loudspeakers that the flights had been cancelled. This is complicated, because we are going to Boavista to work at a festival and we are late. We don’t even know yet if we will be able to go tomorrow, they didn’t say anything, they just kept our contact details,” she said.
In addition to the uncertainty of being able to reach your destination, there is also the problem of being able to maintain the technicians who accompany you in the city of Praia.
“The technicians who came with me have nowhere to stay, they were alone until yesterday [domingo]“He said, noting that he needs a place to stay until the situation is resolved.
Albino Sequeira, who is heading to the island of São Nicolau “in the hope” of attending his mother’s funeral, has also been at the airport for hours waiting for “some satisfaction.”
“Oh The government is playing with the Cape Verdean people.a country that has ten islands and no planes. It is an embarrassing situation,” he said.
Cabo Verde Airlines announces the cancellation of all flights
Lusa tried to obtain information from the company and the Ministry of Transport, but received no response.
The government has repeatedly promised to create reliable and regular connections between the islands, but so far there have been no solutions.
Investors and partners have indicated that the lack of a strategy for the domestic air transport sector is a serious limitation to the country’s development.
Source: Observadora
