Agostinho Neto Airport – NTO Santo Antao Island, Cape Verde
The Agostinho Neto Airport with the code NTO is a defunct airport near the town of Ponta do Sol on the northern part of Santo Antão Island in Cape Verde. The airport was named after an Angolan politician who lived on the island during his exile in the ‘60s. In the 1990s, the airport permanently closed due to safety reasons following a fatal crash that killed all 18 passengers while aboard a flight from São Pedro Airport to the Agostinho Neto Airport in August 1999. Since then, no airport has served the area although there are plans to build a new airport in 2020.
Best Time to Visit
Before it ceased operations in the 1990s, the NTO-Agostinho Neto Airport was a small, public airport serving the second biggest island of Cabo Verde, Santo Antão. It only had a runway and a single terminal. Today, what remains of the non-functional airport is an empty space fenced off by the local government. The old control tower still stands although much of its facilities have deteriorated. The lighthouse nearby is still active. Sao Vicente’s towns like Baia das Gatas and Calhau are close by.
What to Do & Area Attractions
Although there is currently no airport in Santo Antão, Cape Verde the place still attracts travelers thus there are a number of highly recommended hotels serving the area like the Residencial Ponta Do Sol, which is 200m away. The Hotel Santantao Art Resort is just 24km away, while Kira’s Boutique Hotel is located in the nearby Sao Vicente.
Since the closing of the Agostinho Neto Airport, the nearest air field in operation in Sao Vicente Island is the Cesária Évora Airport (VXE), located in the west of the island and north of São Pedro.
