Those councils with airport stop-offs on the new Portimão to Bragança AeroVip service have been sent invoices from local GNR stations to cover the cost of security.
The air service has been going a month and the GNR has been providing on-site security when flights land and take off.
Viseu, Bragança, Vila Real, Portimão and Cascais council areas all host airports on the new service route and all have refused to pay up, claiming that councils already have jumped through hoops to get airport authorisation from the National Civil Aviation Authority and at no stage did anyone point out that the GNR would be billing them for security.
Airport security is the function of the State, claim the mayors, so the cost should be paid by the State.
The Ministry of Infrastructure has done little more than agree there is a problem and that things should have been made clearer.
The GNR’s position is that the airfield security service is additional to its officers' normal duties and therefore is a chargeable event.
The GNR also say the civil aviation security measures are a result of a commercial enterprise and are the sole responsibility of the aerodromes council owners.
An Aerodrome Safety Plan approved by the National Civil Aviation Authority is needed but the councils that own the airfields are at liberty to contract private security guards as long as they have been correctly trained.
