European Commission confirms illegality of free inter-island connecting flights for non-residents - Communication

Secretaria Regional dos Transportes, Turismo e Energia

The Regional Government of the Azores has officially consulted the European Commission's Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DGMOVE) about free inter-island connecting flights for non-residents in order to clarify its interpretation of the compliance of such a measure with EU legal provisions.

This Directorate notified, last week, the Regional Government, pointing out the illegality of granting financial compensation for price reduction on inter-island air travel for non-residents, which makes this type of routing service impossible at all, as stated in the text below:

“Thus, with regard to your first question, the answer would be negative: it is not possible under the current legal framework to compensate the airline selected in the tender for the operation of the intra-Azores PSOs for decreasing prices for non-residents. On your second question, it would also not be possible to decrease prices for non-residents by amending the PSO without running again the tender.”

Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DGMOVE) - Aviation policy - April 5, 2022

Mário Mota Borges, Regional Secretary for Transport, Tourism and Energy, noted that "this information from the European Commission strongly corroborates the legal interpretation that the current Government of the Azores adopted in the PSO review that has underpinned its actions since that moment."

The government official also expressed "concerns about what happened in the past as it may bring undesirable consequences for the Region in the future."

It is therefore clear that, in this specific case, the Regional Secretariat for Transport, Tourism and Energy, through the Regional Directorate for Air and Maritime Transport, has excelled, above, all in the diligent defence of the interests of the Autonomous Region of the Azores but always with an attitude of restoring legality, transparency and the proper allocation of public resources.

With this clarification, the Regional Government of the Azores deeply regrets the numerous and repeated public statements on this subject made by personalities with political and even governmental responsibilities in the recent past.

The lack of credibility of such statements is clearly visible, since, without any legal basis or technical care, they have defended breaches of the law and clear disregard for EU rules in this area.

In coordination with DGMOVE, the Regional Government is already working on a possible solution to make inter-island connecting flights to islands without gateway more competitive and attractive, according to the European Union's regulatory framework. These efforts will require an in-depth study of the legal framework and the respective procedures under the legal provisions in force.