the airport of Faro will have "news" next year, the details of which will be announced "later", namely new routes to France, Central and Eastern Europe. The announcement was made by the new director of the Algarve's airport infrastructure, Alberto Mota Borges, in his first interview with a media outlet since taking up his new position.
To the success of the International Airport of Faro, which last year received 6.166.927 passengers, according to data from the ANA Aeroportos Traffic Report to which the Sul Informação had access, “New routes in the IATA Summer (Aberdeen, Barcelona, Cardiff, Madrid), the new IATA winter routes (Memmingen, Cardiff, Zurich) and reinforcements of the operation of companies on routes that already operate (Dusseldorf, Stockholm, Zurich, Cardiff, London, Paris)», he added Alberto Mota Borges.
As for incentives for the creation of new air connections, ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, prior to its privatization, participated in a route development fund, together with Turismo de Portugal and the Algarve Tourism Association, with the aim of supporting tourist routes. It also had an autonomous system that was eligible under certain circumstances. The results of these incentives were, according to the new director of the Airport of Faro, «satisfactory, having supported five airlines and 33 destinations with the initiative.pt».
Measures to support new routes are intended to achieve sustained growth in operations. Bearing in mind that, last year, Faro had already reached almost 6,2 million passengers, what are the expectations for 2015?
«We foresee a sustained growth in the number of passengers processed for 2015, in line with what happens at other ANA airports. The new investments that we are going to make in the infrastructure may enhance – even more – this same growth in the coming years», replied Alberto Mota Borges.
Alberto Mota Borges wants to «cooperate with the various stakeholders of Algarve and national tourism in the development of solutions that promote a tendency to alleviate the seasonality of tourism in the region and, consequently, of the airport as well»
Alberto Mota Borges came from the Azores, at the beginning of July, to take over the direction of the International Airport of Faro, succeeding António Correia Mendes, which was called to manage the new concession of Grupo Vinci Airports (owner of ANA Aeroportos de Portugal) for Santiago de Chile Airport, in South America.
In your interview with Sul Informação, the new person in charge of the Algarve's airport infrastructure revealed that he had faced the invitation "with great enthusiasm", all the more so as he is committed to strengthening cooperation with the various stakeholders Algarve and national tourism, in order to reduce the seasonality of tourism in the region and, with it, the seasonality of the airport, which in summer bursts at the seams, but in the rest of the year has a lot of underused capacity.
«As we know, the traffic of inbound represents 95%. Tourism is the driver fundamental, so it is a great satisfaction to be able to cooperate with the various entities in this field so that the Airport and the destination continue to be a reference».
As for your main challenges ahead of the Airport of Faro, Alberto Mota Borges points out that the main thing, «in the immediate, is the start of the terminal's remodeling and expansion work».
«Another one will be to cooperate with the various stakeholders of Algarve and national tourism in the development of solutions that promote a tendency to attenuate the seasonality of tourism in the region and, consequently, of the airport as well”, he added.
In his first month in the Algarve, Mota Borges soon had a moment of great exhibition, which were the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Airport of Faro. But the new director has not refrained from participating in various regional events, especially in the city of Faro, to get to know better what is happening in the Algarve.
Always with a smile on his face, the person in charge says he wants to cultivate a good relationship with everyone, namely with those responsible for the Chamber of Faro, but even so does not respond cautiously when questioned by the Sul Informação on the intention, announced by the city's local authority, to create a tourist tax to be applied to planes landing at the Algarve airport, similarly to what the Municipality of Lisbon did. “The president of the ANA has already publicly expressed himself on this matter, so I refuse to comment”, he merely answers.
Mota Borges inherits several hot questions from the previous direction, such as the new rules for the activity of Rent-a-car companies without facilities at the Airport of Faro, which have caused so much controversy. But the official guarantees that these «usage rules» of the infrastructure «will be maintained», even because «they are legally regulated, so we have not found any reason for any change».
The director admits that, «at first, the changes cause some misunderstanding, however, with time the situation will normalize itself, as what moves us is the organization of spaces and the quality and safety of passenger services».
Alberto Mota Borges: new rules for rent-a-car vehicles brought “a discipline in the use of infrastructure and the passenger was given clear information on where to pick up unlicensed vehicles”
It even guarantees that the new rules have brought “a discipline in the use of the infrastructure and the passenger has clear information on where to pick up unlicensed vehicles”.
“We are talking about companies that are not licensed at the airport and, therefore, do not have their own facilities in the infrastructure. What ANA did was to organize the space available, guarantee the operation of these companies and, at the same time, improve the quality of service for passengers who use its services», he added.
Another hot potato inherited is also from new rules for car access and temporary parking, for picking up and dropping off passengers, at the airport of Faro.
Mota Borges explains: «we are introducing at the Airport of Faro a concept already widely used in other airports in Europe and the world, the Kiss & Fly. Among others, this system is used in Helsinki, Prague, Marseilles, Basel-Mulhouse International Airport, Paris-Orly, Geneva, Paris CDG, Chicago O'Hare, JFK, Brussels, Wroclaw, Charlotte-Douglas, Bologna, Tallin, Dortmun, Gatwick, San Francisco, Nice or Heathrow».
The new rules establish that “access to this park by non-commercial vehicles is free for the first two uses of 10 minutes. However, as the goal is to discourage intensive use of the curbside, the third use, within 24 hours, will be charged. If you come to the airport twice a day to bring or pick up passengers, you don't pay anything if you don't exceed 10 minutes to drop off or pick up passengers».
To those who complain about the prices, the director guarantees that «the prices charged at the airport of Faro they are, as a general rule, lower than those practiced at the airports with which we compare ourselves'.
The objective is to «rationalize accessibility» and «reorganize access to passenger terminals, in order to promote operational efficiency, safety and the environmental sustainability of their use. We are also improving the user experience, by allowing all individuals to benefit from 10 free minutes right outside the terminal, to pick up or pick up passengers», he said.
Alberto Mota Borges says he is not aware that there are, in this regard, complaints by taxi drivers or transfer operators. In the first case, he stresses, “in the first contacts, they informed me of an excellent relationship with the airport”.
“At all airports in the world, the commercial activities that take place at airport facilities are regulated to ensure quality of service to customers, safety and quality of service. That's what it's all about. There is a certain supply capacity and rules to manage that capacity”, he added.
“Note that public buses do not pay. Taxis at passenger departures do not pay any fare if they use the Bus lane in Departures. Taxis taking passengers will remain in the space currently available for that purpose, which will be reserved for holders of a valid pass. Taxis taking passengers will only be charged if and when a supplement or minimum airport fare is established. Tour buses and shuttlecocks of the hotels will have their own spaces suitable for accessing the airport (parks P5 and P6, respectively, both at a very close distance from the Terminal). Access to the airport is through a fee of 270 euros per year. Well, if one space shuttle visiting the airport an average of 5 times a day, you will pay 15 cents per visit in the parking lot, and if the average is just one visit per day, it will be 75 cents. There are no restrictions on the number of agreements. All operators who want a pass can request it at the airport», he explained.
But the great future challenge of the new direction of the Airport of Faro will be the works of remodeling and expansion of the passenger terminal, which will cost 32,8 million euros, will start "next September" and will have to be made with the terminal in operation, to be completed in "March 2017". A puzzle that the new person in charge hopes to solve through careful planning of the works, with the collaboration of all infrastructure employees, but also of the construction company and other operators who work there.
The objective of the intervention is not to replace the current terminal, since such a solution, despite having been studied at the beginning, «was neither spatially feasible nor financially feasible». The idea is to adapt the terminal to the new passenger profile.
Alberto Mota Borges explains the framework of the works at the Aerogare, recalling that «the current infrastructure of the Airport of Faro (FAO) was dimensioned to process up to 6 million passengers per year, taking into account the characteristics of demand and technical-operational requirements existing at the time (1982/85), for traffic almost exclusively charter».
However, since 1999, «regular traffic Low Cost has been increasing significantly, values that today reach 74% of the total, so it is necessary to adjust the layout from the terminal to the profile of the new passenger, who has different needs'.
"There are also environmental noise limitations that do not allow the operation between 24:00 and 06:00, so we have to receive this traffic at the time of the 18 hours we are open," he said.
Alberto Mota Borges: «In winter, we brutally reduce landing fees and offer additional incentives and that's not why the airlines increase the operation»
Among the objectives of this work, which was officially launched on the 50th anniversary of the Airport of Faro, are the «response to the change in the type of traffic, the creation of more operational areas and more public area, as well as the revitalization and expansion of the retail area (the terminal area will increase from 81.200 square meters to 93.120 square meters), the increase in operational safety, the modernization of the terminal's image and the reformulation of the integration with terrestrial accessibilities. In short, our aim is to offer more and better quality of service, and improve the experience of passengers passing through our Airport, which is a gateway to Portugal and the Algarve».
Alberto Mota Borges, in his interview with Sul Informação, the first that he has given to a media outlet since taking over the new functions, also revealed that "what will be done will be a requalification of the terminal", which will have as objectives, in the first place, to "adjust the capacity of the passenger terminal the new capacity of the runway system (30 movements per hour) and aircraft parking (30/37 stands), guaranteeing a movement of 30 departures/arrivals per hour».
It also intends to "increase the terminal's embarkation/disembarkation capacity from 2.400 people per hour to 3.000 people/hour in each direction/flow", as well as "adapt the infrastructure to the requirements of the new requirements of the operation aimed at mostly regular traffic, whose companies Low Cost they already represent 74% of total traffic, foreseeing the need for operations that require high turnover».
Finally, the works are intended to promote the «revitalization, reformulation and expansion of commercial areas, which have been constantly configured since the end of the 90s, with a view to improving the service provided».
Despite all the planned investments, there are those who, even so, are not happy with the Airport of Faro. Recently, Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair, criticized the value of airport fees practiced there, saying that they hinder the expansion of activity and entry of tourists in the months of less traffic at the Algarve airport.
But director Alberto Mota Borges is not concerned with these criticisms: «the Airport of Faro it is competitive in the context of Portugal and the European Union, and complies with what is provided for in the Concession Agreement, regarding fees. This year, ANA refunded fees to the various airlines, which demonstrates the virtues of the system. In winter, we brutally reduce landing fees and offer additional incentives and that's not why airlines increase the operation».
With some irony, he concludes: "in the case of Ryanair, we usually hear the same statements at all the airports where the company operates, so we don't find their statements strange."
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