Ryanair and the Government of Madeira will work to pressure ANA/Vinci not to apply the “unjustifiable and excessive” increase in airport fees that affect tourism and the economy, the airlines commercial director said today.
Ryanair wants to “grow in Portugal” and “the president of Madeira is in line” with the company against increasing airport fees, aiming “to work together to achieve the objective of this growth” .
“We agreed that we will work together”, said Ryanair's commercial director Jason McGuiness after a meeting he had earlier today with the president of the Regional Government, Miguel Albuquerque, which he classified as 'productive.'
This meeting came after Ryanair announced on Tuesday the decision to reduce the carrier's planes based in Madeira from two to one, starting in January.
The airline also announced that it will reduce traffic in Porto and Faro next year, due to the increase in airport fees by ANA/Vinci.
Criticizing the “French monopoly” of the airport concessionaire, the official argued that the regulator – the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC) – should intervene in this case and tell “Vinci not to increase fees, but to reduce them”.
“It is necessary to reduce taxes in Madeira to grow tourism and the economy”, he argued, highlighting the importance of Madeira airport.
According to Jason McGuiness, “it is time to take control of the airport for the people of Madeira”.
“We want to double tourism numbers in Portugal in the next five years. We want to increase the number of planes to Madeira. Our plan was to go from two to five planes,” he highlighted.
However, he stated that this objective cannot be achieved due to the “unjustifiable and excessive increase in costs proposed by the Vinci airport operator”.
Ryanair's commercial director considered that, at the moment, neither the Government of the Republic nor the airport operator “have a plan to increase tourism” in Portugal.
Faced with an increase in airport fees, Ryanair, starting in January, will make a “50% reduction, from two to one aircraft based in Madeira” and will cancel three routes: Bergamo, Nuremberg and Marseille.
Jason McGuiness mentioned that the company transported 700,000 passengers on the Madeira route this year, which is expected to reduce to 400,000 next year, reducing the frequency from 10 daily connections to seven.
“Our plan was to grow but, unfortunately, they have an airport owner who continues to increase fees. This is not viable in the context in which airports are reducing fees”, he stressed.
ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal has revised the tariff proposal for 2024 at national airports, now proposing an average increase of 14.55% in global terms, including adjustments to fees not charged in previous years.
Source https://postal.pt/
