By Miguel Vieira
FORCV Columnist

The national airline carrier of Cape Verde, TACV, has gone through several stages over the years. It's had moments of success and failure and moments of "just breaking even of sorts", too; and it's always been a state owned enterprise, something that’s not much appreciated by the international institutional powers that be. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), an agency with major clout in the financial affairs of developing nations, for instance, has consistently suggested that TACV be privatized. This is not the era of state-owned businesses in the developing world, they assert. TACV must be privatized or else- the grants and loans maybe be dramatically reduced if that doesn’t happen, the message goes. In general, that is the dynamic of the relationship between third world countries and the IMF.

Once a threat of significant reduction of foreign aid is used by the IMF, developing nations typically acquiesce to their demands. This explains why the Government of Cape Verde agreed to hire a foreign consultant, Canadian national Gilles Filliatreault, to restructure TACV during a period of one year to prepare the company for privatization. That move cost the Cape Verdean tax payers one million U.S. dollars for the hefty salary of Mr. Filliatreault. He has been the executive director of TACV for roughly one year and a half but has accomplished very little; TACV is far from where he had promised he would get it after one year. Also his management style is notoriously controversial, dating back to the period when he was in charge of restructuring Air Afrique, an airline company that ended up in bankruptcy in 2002.
Still, making matters worse, Mr. Filliatreault failed to build a good rapport with TACV’s pilot association from the get-go. Additionally, he unjustly fired nearly one third of the company staff, some of whom had been with the company for almost two decades. The ones who remained employed fear losing their jobs. In other words, the climate at TACV, from top to bottom, is one of fear, sources tell FORCV. But now the feared one has been given a taste of his medicine. "Your services are no longer needed" a high level transportation official recently informed him. "You are terminated, Mr. Filliatrault". Good riddance.

The next phase
Still, in the context of a post-Gilles TACV, officials must take a comprehensive look at the over-all nature of the company's finances and well-being and take Cabo Verde airlines to its potential of viability. This can be done by implementing the same managerial and human resources rigors of a U.S. or an EU airline carrier. This includes among other things employing the following:

1) Implementing more reasonable airfares, i.e., there's no reason why it should cost less to go to Beijing, China from New York than to go to Praia, Cape Verde
2) Adhering to strict scheduling punctuality
3) Marketing more forcibly and creatively to the Cape Verde Diaspora communities and the growing number of western tourists. These should fly with no other airline carrier than TACV
And
4) Catching up to technological advances. A potential TACV customer should be able to book a flight online. And the TACV website should be updated on a continual basis.

Finally, the employees who had been unjustly fired by Gilles Filliatrault with no due process should be re-instated and be compensated retroactively. The money that will be saved from Gilles astronomic salary will help with the costs of the retroactive payments. There are other efficient measures that the new TACV management can implement to save the company from bankruptcy and uplift its image. However, should the ones listed above be pursued, TACV's future will be more promising and competitive.