The long overdue air service between Portimão and Bragança “will start soon” according to AeroVIP, the sole bidder to run the subsided route.
The air link now has the approval of the Court of Auditors and AeroVIP’s parent, the Seven Air Group, which originally planned to start the service in June this year, has a track record of running this route as it did so for 15 years to November 2012 until EC funding stopped and the Government refused to pay further subsidies due to budgetary pressure.
AeroVip submitted the only proposal for the operation of the Bragança to Portimão airlink (with stops in Vila Real, Viseu and Cascais) and has been waiting for six months for the paperwork to come through.
Speaking to the TSF radio, Carlos Amaro from Aero Vip, said the company is all set to start the air link and that the connection will start soon.
The full return fare from north to south and back again will cost €148 and the flight time is an estimated 2hours 50 minutes.
The subsidy on offer from the taxpayer is a maximum of €7.8 million over the three years depending on ticket sales.
The reason the service was halted in 2012 was to save taxpayers’ money and it remains to be seen whether the uptake for the new service will be any different to before.
Earlier this year the mayor of Portimão pledged an open cheque to bring the council-owned airstrip at Alvor up to scratch, talking of ‘sustainable tourism,’ and ‘northern businessmen.’
Mayor Isilda Gomes then changed her tune as the upgrade estimates came in but said the council would foot the bill for ‘necessary upgrade work’, but that she had decided that the route will be ‘of little consequence’ to tourism in her council area.
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