TAP Air Portugal will begin operating daily direct flights between Portuguese capital Lisbon and Cape Verdean capital Praia in June, and will increase the number of flights it offers to Guinea Bissau and Mozambique over the summer, according to an announcement made by the company's administrator, Luiz Mor. The Portuguese airline will also lower its ticket prices, with promotional fares between Lisbon and Praia (or Sal and São Vicente) of just 250 euros round-trip.

Luiz Mor made the announcement in Praia during the presentation of TAP's new in-flight magazine, UP, which carries a special report on Cape Verde. Mor told Portuguese news agency Lusa that the presentation of the magazine in Praia on Friday was "a pretext" to announce the increase in the number of flights the company will be offering to Africa.

TAP began flying directly to Praia from Lisbon four times a week in October of last year - previously, the company only operated direct flights to Sal. "We're also going to begin incentive programs, electing Cape Verde as the destination of the month," in an effort to "increase tourism to Africa," said the administrator, who added that TAP's revenues grew 14% last year, and that the number of passengers making their way to the airline's African destinations rose by 24%.

Currently, TAP flies once a week to Guinea Bissau, but will increase the frequency to two weekly flights during the summer. Depending on the market response, the daily flights to Praia could continue after September.

TAP carries out four weekly flights to Maputo (Mozambique) and Johannesburg (South Africa), and will increase that number to five during the summer months. Angolan capital Luanda and Senegalese capital Dakar will continue to have daily flights from Lisbon, and the once-weekly frequency to São Tomé will be maintained as well.

Last year, TAP transported some 430,000 passengers to and from African airports, 100,000 of which to and from Cape Verde. "In January of this year, we grew 26% in the Cape Verdean market in comparison to January of last year, and to Praia alone we transported 4,000 people," said Dionísio Barum, the company's general director for Africa.