The 'Marquês Plan' aims to lure tour operators away from Lisbon airport next summer, by offering Beja Airport as a 'competitive destination.'
The Minister of Planning and Infrastructures, Pedro Marquês, informed a parliamentary committee that the government and French-owned Aeroportos de Portugal are joining forces to promote Beja Airport to take the heat off Lisbon's Humberto Delgado airport, which is a maximum capacity.
"The Government has said to ANA, in the face of the exhaustion at Lisbon airport, that we seek to promote Beja airport, especially at the most critical time of the summer," said Marquês.
According to the minister, "the idea is that, instead of working only with airlines and offering rate competitiveness, infrastructure competitiveness is offered to tour operators who organise integrated offers and who have a certain type of demand in the summer."
The intention, added Marquês, is that this could induce demand in the coming years, starting in the summer of 2019. It is "unrealistic to think that it we can influence operations this summer but can greatly influence the organisation of operations in the coming summers.”
Pedro Marquês said he did not know how many flights could be taken from Lisbon's Humberto Delgado Airport but said that "any operation of this nature that we can get at Beja airport is important because the region sees it as a hope factor, but also because it is like a special offer, a first for something that can grow in the future."
Marquês said that Lisbon airport is overloaded, “which is why the promotion of Beja is not only a matter of fees, but of slots during the hours they are wanted, those that are most critical for a tourism operation."
The minister realises that Lisbon’s alternative airport, planned for the Montijo air base, is nowhere near take-off and even with a tail wind will take several years to convert to a civil airport facility.
The expensive white elephant that Beja airport represents has been ignored by successive governments, all of which have lacked a coherent plan to develop the facilities.
How white is the elepahant? Beja airport only had 29 passengers in the first three months of 2018. In February, the airport had only one passenger.
The Marquês Plan, to persuade tour operators to use an airport located 177 kilometres from the capital and 147 kilometres to Faro, lacks credibility, as does the minister who steadfastly has ignored the Beja problem since taking office.
The president of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies, Pedro Costa Ferreira, summed up the industry's view with refreshing brevity: Beja airport is not a cheaper deal for tourism companies and it's miles from anywhere so has a "difficult relationship with consumers."
Ferreira said that changes to Lisbon Airport and the eventual opening of Montijo Airport would increase inbound capacity, which is where the money is.
Comments
Now... Beauvais Airport is a thriving business which started with modest beginnings.
Stansted to central London is 65 kilometres down the M11. Trains depart every 15 minutes and take 47 minutes to and from London Liverpool Street.
Ryanair Beauvais is 97 kilometres to central Paris. Trains run between 05.13 and 20.10. There are 16 a day and the journey is 1hr 10mins. Shuttle bus service.
Beja is 117 kilometres to Lisbon. The train takes 2 hours and 13 minutes, to drive takes 1hr 55mins, taxi takes the same time and costs €110 to €140, the bus takes 2hrs 45mins and costs under €20.
Investment in infrastructure to get people to and from Beja has not happened - hence its white elephant status.
Now that Lisbon is full and Montijo is nowhere near starting, the cheap air companies could look at using Beja but, as it stands, they really are not interested.
But it will take a herculean effort to restart as so much has been pilfered from material and machinery left behind by the previous road builders.