Amílcar Cabral International Airport

Amílcar Cabral International Airport (IATA: SID, ICAO: GVAC), also known as Sal International Airport, is the main international airport of Cape Verde. The airport is named after the revolutionary leader Amílcar Cabral. It is located two km west-southwest from Espargos on Sal Island. Sal is the main hub for the national airline, Cabo Verde Airlines; and serves as a base for carrier Cabo Verde Express. This airport was also one of NASA's locations for a facility to handle the Space Shuttle after reentering from orbit.

"Sal Airport" redirects here. For the airport with IATA code SAL, see Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport.

Amílcar Cabral International Airport

Aeroporto Internacional Amílcar Cabral
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorAeroportos Segurança Aérea (ASA)
ServesEspargos
LocationSal, Cape Verde
Hub for
Elevation AMSL54 m / 177 ft
Coordinates16°44′33″N 022°56′53″W
Websitewww.asa.cv.
Map
SID is located in Cape Verde
SID
SID
Location in Cape Verde
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
01/19 3,272 10,735 Paved
07/25 1,500 4,921 Paved
Statistics (2019)
Passengers1,192,828
Operations14.576
Metric tonnes of cargo443.3
Sources: World Aero Data[1]

History

The first airport on Sal Island was built in 1939 by Italy, as a fuel and provisions stopping-point on routes from Europe to South America.[2] The first flight, an arrival from Rome and Seville, was on 15 December 1939. As a consequence of World War II, the Italian involvement in the airport project ceased. After World War II, the Portuguese colonial government purchased the airport from Italy and by 1949 the airport was fully operational.[2] In 1950, DC-4 service on Alitalia began on a Rome — Sal — Buenos Aires — Caracas route. In 1961 jet service (a DC-8) on the route rendered the stop at Sal unnecessary, and international service was suspended.

Between 1960 and 1967 Sal was a stop of the Voo da amizade (Friendship Flight), a dedicated service between Brazil and Portugal. It was operated from 1960 to 1965 by Panair do Brasil and from 1965 to 1967 by TAP-Transportes Aéreos Portugueses and Varig. Only Brazilian and Portuguese citizens or foreigners with permanent residence in Brazil or Portugal could purchase tickets for those flights, which were extremely popular due to their low fares. At this time, Cape Verde was a Portuguese Overseas Province and therefore part of the territory of Portugal.

From 1963 to 1975, the Portuguese Air Force's No 1 Transit Airfield (AT1, Aeródromo de Trânsito n.º 1) was installed in the Sal airport. The AT1 supported the military air connections between European Portugal and the Portuguese African provinces, as well as serving as the operational base for the maritime patrol aircraft occasionally deployed in Cape Verde.

Beginning in 1967, Sal was used as a refueling stop by South African Airways, for flights to and from Europe, since SAA was denied landing rights by most African countries due to the international boycott of apartheid.[3] By 1983, SAA operated 13 round trips per week between Sal and Johannesburg, using the island as a stop for its Boeing 747 services to New York, Houston, London, Brussels and Amsterdam.[4] The island saw as many as 36 SAA flights per week in the mid-1980s, but this number was cut dramatically following the imposition of US sanctions in 1987.[5] By 1996 only one weekly SAA flight stopped at Sal (service between Johannesburg and New York).[6] Sal was later used as a fuel stop on SAA's Atlanta service starting in 2003.[7] SAA's final flight to Atlanta was on July 1, 2006.

Aeroflot used Sal as a stop on its Il-62 services from Moscow and Budapest to Dakar and Conakry in the late 1970s.[8] Cubana also operated Il-62s on the Havana-Sal-Luanda-Maputo route in the early 1980s,[9] and the Havana-Sal-Bissau-Luanda route in the late 1980s.[10]

In 1985, TACV began service to Boston, Massachusetts using a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 provided by LAM Mozambique Airlines. Boston hosts the largest Cape Verdean community in the United States. TACV flights to Boston have since been shifted to Praia International Airport. Other international destinations include inter alia Amsterdam, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, and Porto. Domestic destinations include Santiago and São Vicente.[11]

Until September 2005, it was the only airport in Cape Verde to serve international flights. There is now also international service to Nelson Mandela International Airport on Praia.

Sal Airport terminal

Since 2017 Sal has been a refuelling stop for the twice-weekly South Atlantic Air Bridge service operated by Air Tanker between the UK and the Falkland Islands. This is a temporary arrangement until the runway at Ascension Island is repaired which is expected to be in 2020.[12]

Facilities and transport

Terminal
Inside the terminal at Sal Airport.

Amílcar Cabral has one terminal. It is a two-story building containing check-in, waiting, and arrival areas, as well as shopping, banking, and passenger services. The second floor houses airport operations and airline offices. There are four gates, and buses (Cobus 3000s) are used to transport passengers to the aircraft stands.

Cabo Verde Express has its head office in the Concourse Hall.[13] The two duty-free shops along with refreshment facilities, retail kiosks and outdoor smoking areas are located after security scanning and passport control, adjacent to the six departure gates.

Runways

The airport's main runway is 3,272 m (10,734 ft) long and is the longest in Cape Verde. It is used for long-haul flights. It was also one of the designated emergency landing strips for the U.S. Space Shuttle.[14] The second runway is 1,500 m (4,921 ft) long and was used by small planes. It is now closed for traffic.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Sal Amílcar Cabral Airport:

AirlinesDestinations
AlbaStar Seasonal: Bergamo[15]
Air Europa Seasonal charter: Madrid
Air Senegal Dakar–Diass[16]
Azores Airlines Seasonal: Lisbon
Bestfly Cabo Verde[17] Boa Vista, Praia, São Nicolau, São Vicente
Binter Canarias Gran Canaria
Bulgaria Air Seasonal charter: Sofia[18]
Cabo Verde Airlines[19] Bergamo (resumes 4 November 2023),[20] Lisbon, Paris–Charles de Gaulle,[21] Praia
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zurich[22]
Enter Air Seasonal charter: Katowice,[23] Warsaw–Chopin[23]
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Neos Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Fiumicino, Verona
Smartwings Seasonal charter: Bratislava, Brno, Katowice, Madrid, Prague, Vienna (begins 22 December 2023),[24] Warsaw-Chopin
Sunclass Airlines Seasonal charter: Copenhagen,[25] Gothenburg,[26] Oslo,[27] Stockholm–Arlanda[26]
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon
TAROM Seasonal charter: Bucharest[28]
Transavia Seasonal: Paris–Orly
TUI Airways[29] Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands (begins 4 November 2023),[30] Glasgow (begins 3 November 2023),[31] London–Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne (begins 7 November 2023)[32]
TUI fly Belgium Brussels
TUI fly Deutschland Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart
Seasonal: Hamburg
TUI fly Netherlands Amsterdam
Seasonal: Eindhoven
TUI fly Nordic Seasonal charter: Copenhagen,[33] Gothenburg,[34] Helsinki,[35] Stockholm–Arlanda[34]
Vueling Seasonal: Barcelona[36]

Statistics
Annual passenger traffic at SID airport. See Wikidata query.
YearPassengersOperationsCargo (t)
2016[37]914,69611,164816.3
2017[37]1,092,78912,479617.7
20181,184,63613,429429.3
20191,192,82814,576443.3

Access

The airport is located on the west side of the road (EN1-SL01) linking Espargos and Santa Maria, the island's main tourist destination. There is no scheduled public transport; taxicabs, shared cars known as "aluguer", and rental cars are available.

See also

References
  1. "World Aero Data: AMILCAR CABRAL INTL -- GVAC". worldaerodata.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  2. Ray Almeida. "A History of Ilha do Sal". Archived from the original on 6 February 2016.
  3. Pirie, G. H. (1990). "Aviation, Apartheid and Sanctions: Air Transport to and from South Africa,1945—1989". GeoJournal. 22 (3): 231–40. doi:10.1007/BF00192821. S2CID 154691990.
  4. "OAG Schedules to Johannesburg - Effective July 1, 1983". www.departedflights.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  5. May, Clifford D. (2 July 1987). "FIGHTING APARTHEID DESPITE THE COST". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  6. "OAG schedules to Johannesburg International Airport - Effective October 1, 1996". www.departedflights.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  7. "Island stop makes SAA's Atlanta hauls longer | IOL News". Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  8. "Aeroflot timetable, 1977".
  9. "Cubana timetable, 1984".
  10. "Cubana timetable, 1989".
  11. TACV Cabo Verde Airlines International routes Archived 23 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, airlineroutemaps.com, retrieved 2 October 2015
  12. Mercopress - South Atlantic Press Agency retrieved 18 January 2018
  13. "Contact Us Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine." Cabo Verde Express. Retrieved on 14 December 2011.
  14. Pike, John. "SPACE SHUTTLE EMERGENCY LANDING SITES". www.globalsecurity.org.
  15. "Albastar annuncia la programmazione estiva in partenza dall'Aeroporto di Milano Bergamo". AlbaStar. 21 March 2022.
  16. "Air Senegal Resumes Ilha do Sal Service From July 2023". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  17. "Schedules". bestflycaboverde.com.
  18. ""България Еър" изпълни исторически първи полет между България и Кабо Верде". 24 October 2021. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  19. retrieved 18 February 2023
  20. "Cabo Verde Airlines Resumes Italy Service From Nov 2023". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  21. "CABO VERDE AIRLINES VAI RETOMAR VOOS PARA PARIS".
  22. Liu, Jim. "Edelweiss Air adds 3 African routes in 4Q20". Routesonline. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  23. "air and charter tickets". itaka.pl. Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  24. "Kapverden: TUI mit Direktflug im Winter 2023/2024".
  25. "Flight". spies.dk.
  26. "Flight". ving.se.
  27. "Flight". Ving.no.
  28. "Karpaten Toursim schedules the first charter flight from Romania to Cape Verde". boardingpass.ro. 20 February 2021.
  29. "Flight Timetable". tui.co.uk.
  30. "Tui adds 150,000 seats to make winter 2023-24 biggest ever".
  31. "Tui adds 150,000 seats to make winter 2023-24 biggest ever".
  32. "Tui adds 150,000 seats to make winter 2023-24 biggest ever".
  33. "Only Flight". tui.dk.
  34. "Only Flight". tui.se.
  35. "Only Flight". tui.fi.
  36. "New Routes". vueling.com.
  37. "Boletim Estatístico de Tráfego – Ano 2017" (PDF) (in Portuguese). ASA. January 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.

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