VINCI chosen as Cape Verde airports concessionaire - beginning of the end, or end of the beginning?

The 10-island archipelago of Cape Verde, in the Atlantic Ocean west of Senegal, is an unusual place. It is one of the most stable countries in Africa and has managed to attract the sort of tourism that most other countries on the continent crave but could never achieve.

Its own air transport business has been in some disarray, however, and added to this is an agreement with Loftleiðir Icelandic (Icelandair Group) not being able to get fully to grips with the national carrier's problems.

Now another foreign organisation, VINCI, has won the contract to operate the (seven) airports, the government having sought a workable privatisation solution for them for some years.

Part one of this two part feature looks at the background and terms of the new deal.