Delta Drops Malabo, Luanda, Cape Verde Before Launching
May 21st, 2009 | By Jared BlankI haven’t seen news about it anywhere else, but according to Airlne Route Updates (typically reliable, as he bases his info off of GDS – travel agency – data) Delta has shelved its planned routes to Malabo, Equitorial Guinea; Luanda, Angola; and Ilha do Sal, Cape Verde. You may remember (if you’re a freak, like me) that Delta was going to launch a tiny, tiny, mini-hub on Cape Verde to serve West African destinations with a 757 (though no passengers would actually de-plane there). I thought it was a fascinating idea. However, they’re not going to do it (it wasn’t looking good when they switched the flights to Cape Verde to JFK, then Atlanta, then JFK).
They are going to go ahead with planned 3x weekly service to Abuja, Nigeria; and once-weekly service to Monrovia, Liberia, both via Dakar, Senegal. If I were a betting man, I’d bet Monrovia doesn’t happen either. We’ll see.
[...] collateral damage (and as predicted by the OTR two weeks ago), the airline also “indefinitely” postponed the launch of [...]
If Delta were smart they would offer a route from Boston, MA directly to Ilha do Sal, Cape Verde! In the Greater Boston area you will find the largest population of Cape Verdeans in the U.S. I mean it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that offering this new route would be a great investment. To be able to create competition in this area is probably the biggest reason for obvious gain. But hey who am I? I’ve never worked in the airline business but I am a Cape Verdean woman who would like options. To me I can see that route is an untapped market. Til someone invest in it there is one airline that will soak up all that travel money.