Cape Verde’s flagship airline, TACV, needs 50 million euros to pay off its debts, said that company’s chairman at a flight operations staff meeting last week.

According to the Cape Verdean press, João Pereira da Silva gave assurances that with that amount of cash the airline would pay all of its debts and start a new phase of greater stability, and added that the money needed may arrive soon.

The current board of directors inherited a complicated situation, and in addition to this it needs to buy two Boeing 737 aircraft which, according to one TACV captain, “make it possible to provide flights to West Africa, such as Senegal and Guinea Bissau, but they do not serve the main routes of the company to Europe, Brazil, and United States.”

“Even to Lisbon, which is the airline’s most frequent route, we have to leave cargo behind to carry fuel, for destinations that are further away, such as Boston, France and Germany cannot even be considered,” said the captain.

The Portuguese News Network reported that the current board of directors has already guaranteed leasing in order to exchange two smaller aircraft for larger aircraft, or at least one Boeing 767. (macauhub)