TAP Portugal (Lisbon) could resume services to Bissau later this year should preliminary talks between the newly elected Bissau-Guinean government and Portuguese authorities succeed.
In a statement, the newly elected Prime Minister of the West African nation, Domingos Simões Pereira, said he hoped to resolve all outstanding issues that lead to the suspension of direct flights to Lisbon in December last year.
TAP suspended services last year after crew were reportedly forced by Bissaun authorities to take on board 74 Syrian refugees with false documents.
The suspension saw Guinea-Bissau allocate its Lisbon traffic rights to Ten Airways (Bucharest Baneasa), in effect declaring the Romanian charter specialist its de-facto national carrier. However, the Portuguese civil aviation authority (Instituto Nacional de Aviação Civil - INAC) rejected the proposal on the grounds that it violated the terms of Portugal's existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement with Guinea Bissau.
