First regular flight from Bragança to Portimão landed without problems but one hour late (with photos)

It was 11:03 am when Aero Vip's Dornier landed on the runway of the Municipal Aerodrome of Portimão, thus completing, almost an hour late, the first air connection between Bragança and the city of Barlavento Algarvio, with stops in Vila Real, Viseu and Tires ( Cascais).

On board, in addition to some elements linked to the Portuguese airline, pilot Pedro Leal, who is also the president of Aero Vip, there were only three passengers, a lady with her two young children.

Demonstrating the novelty of the air connection, the Aero Vip employee only at the third attempt managed to turn the door handle of the twin-engine plane to the right place, to open the door and make the stairs go down, allowing the passengers to exit.

With a delay of 58 minutes in relation to the scheduled time (the plane should have arrived at the Portimão runway at 10:05), the stop in Algarve land was just over 15 minutes, especially since, on the way back, at least to the Aerodrome de Tires, did not board any passengers.

Everything was running so fast that the delegation waiting for the plane and its passengers at the runway - made up of the mayor of Portimão, the vice president and three councilors, businessmen from the municipality, mostly linked to tourism and hotel management, within the scope of the Portimão Tourism Association, by members of the security forces, the commander of the Portimão Fire Department, among others – he barely had time to greet the aircraft commander and the other people accompanying him.

In brief statements to the Sul Informação, Commander Pedro Leal explained the delay of almost an hour in this first call, attributing it to "details and policies that still need to be fixed and fine-tuned", considering the situation "normal", because it is "the first time".

Taking advantage of the delay, another plane, which transports parachutists of various nationalities who are in Portimão for the Annual Christmas Boogie promoted by Skydive Algarve, kept taking off to drop the parachutists up there and then land to load a new one takes of sportsmen. Only while Aero Vip's Dornier was landing, stopping and taking off did Boogie operations come to a halt.

In order to receive this domestic air route, which now connects Portugal from North to South by plane, the Portimão Council promoted a series of improvements to the Aerodrome's support building, namely by creating a small check-in area. According to Isilda Gomes, mayor of Portimão, the investment by the municipality, which reached close to 100 euros, took into account the interest that the new regular air connection may have for tourism.

But the investment did not stop there. This is because the Municipality has also filed with the Portimão Voluntary Firefighters the financial and logistical conditions to guarantee all the security requirements of this new Municipal Aerodrome field.

Richard Marques, commander of the Fire Department of Portimão, revealed to the Sul Informação that, since last year, an investment of «100 thousand euros in safety [safety], in equipment, personnel and their training'. "Thirty minutes before and up to thirty minutes after the arrival of the plane at the Aerodrome, a basic fire-fighting and rescue service device is guaranteed," explained Richard Marques.

In all, there are always five operatives on permanent duty at the Aerodrome during this period of time, out of a total of 28 operatives who have received specific training for this specialized service.

The fleet used in this operation consists of Dornier 221 aircraft, with capacity for 18 passengers. These aircraft have STOL capabilities (short take-off and landing) suited to the type of regional operation, namely to operate in aerodromes with smaller runways.

The big news introduced in this line are its two new destinations – Viseu and Portimão – which, according to Aero Vip, «allow us to ensure a better and more complete service to users in the North Interior, such as connecting, for the first time, the Barlavento Algarvio to the Algarve. rest of the country by air'.

For Carlos Amaro, manager of Aero Vip, the great innovation of this line is the introduction of Cascais Airport (in replacement of Lisbon Airport): «Aerovip believes that this Airport has conditions that are much better suited to the type of Regional line it operates, with obvious benefits for the passenger in the ease and speed of embarkation and disembarkation, as well as in the landing, taxi, parking next to the terminal and take-off movements».

On the other hand, adds the administrator, «in conjunction with efforts with Cascais Airport itself, passenger transfers will be carried out between the terminal and the center of Lisbon, allowing considerable time savings from the aircraft door to the final destination of each passenger ». In other words, as soon as they arrive at Tires Aerodrome, passengers have at their disposal a connection to the center of Lisbon, in this case, the Marquês de Pombal square.

In this operation there are five types of fares, Premium, Basic, Pex, Promo and Discount with different conditions and restrictions, which have values for a round trip Bragança-Portimão from 86,67 euros or for a Cascais-Portimão flight from 73,45 euros.

Flight WV951 leaves Bragança at 7:30 am, bound for Portimão (where it arrives at 10:05 am), with a stopover in Vila Real, Viseu and Cascais.

In the opposite direction, flight WV954 leaves Portimão at 10:15 am, bound for Bragança (17:20 pm), with a stopover in Cascais, Viseu and Vila Real.

This means that, in the way between Bragança and Portimão, the flight takes, in theory, a little more than two and a half hours, but, in the opposite direction, between the Barlavento Algarvio and Trás os Montes, it takes more than five hours, due to a prolonged stop at Tires Aerodrome (Cascais).

This concession, which is just beginning, and which was granted by the Portuguese State to Aero Vip, has a term of 3 years from the first flight carried out, that is, from today. Over these 36 months, the State pays the company a maximum amount of 7,8 million euros to maintain the regular air connection which, without this state subsidy, and as we have seen today, would have great difficulty in flying on its own.

In 2015, the State will pay a maximum of 650 euros to the air carrier, while in 2016 the amount could go up to 2,6 million euros (excluding VAT), the same amount indicated for 2017. For 2018, the maximum amount consigned in the diploma is 1,95 million euros. The four installments make up the maximum estimated expenditure of 7,8 million euros.