Berta Cabral highlights guarantee that air transport Public Service Obligations between Azores and Mainland Portugal will be relaunched "as soon as possible" - Communication

Secretaria Regional do Turismo, Mobilidade e Infraestruturas

This week, the Secretary of State for Infrastructures assured the Regional Secretary for Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructures, Berta Cabral, that the State will launch the Public Service Obligations for air transport between the Azores and Mainland Portugal "as soon as possible."

Speaking to the media after a working meeting with Berta Cabral, Hugo Espírito Santo emphasised that there was no doubt that these routes, in their current configuration, "need to be compensated."

According to him, the fact that the tender was unsuccessful requires a reflection on its conditions.

The routes are operated by SATA. This situation prompted the Secretary of State to point out that "all options" must be considered. It is "important to define the criteria" for the new Public Service Obligations so that they can be quickly put out to tender to ensure that there is "compensation based on the specifications and requirements that have been made."

For her part, Berta Cabral stated that SATA "believes it has the right to demand this compensation, and it has that right as it is operating these routes." However, she recalled the existence of specific EU legislation on State aid that must be observed - it should be noted that SATA "is undergoing a restructuring process approved by the European Commission."

"We cannot fall into a situation like the one SATA has already been through, which forced it to return 72 million Euros precisely from illegal State aid," the Regional Secretary said, defending the need to “study this process properly so as not to take any risks.”

For Berta Cabral, "everything has to be done carefully."

And she explained: "Now, it is only fair that SATA be compensated for the public service it is providing, so as not to contradict the requirements of the restructuring plan regarding the operation of loss-making routes."

Meanwhile, as far as the mobility aid is concerned, Berta Cabral stated that the Regional Government wants to continue to "maintain the mobility aid without limit as it was conceived that way."

"The working group is active and we look forward to its conclusions. Our concern is to avoid situations of abuse and cases of fraud should be dealt with by the competent authorities, as is already happening," she said.

She emphasised the importance of finding a model that allows passengers to pay only the amount defined by law for residents, without having to pay the full price of the ticket in advance and then receive a refund.

"There is a working group that is finding the best solutions for the mobility aid, seeking to simplify procedures, whose main focus is to ensure that residents only pay the resident fare without the need to pay the full price of the ticket in advance," she said.