The Municipal Councils of the municipalities served by the new regional air route between Bragança and Portimão do not want to be responsible for paying the security expenses of this operation. The matter has even been addressed by the municipalities of Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Cascais and Portimão and should soon be discussed with the authorities.
The air route, which started operating on December 23 of last year, and has been transporting an average of just five passengers per flight, was discussed on Wednesday, at the Portimão Chamber meeting, brought to the fore, for another reason, by councilor José Pedro Caçorino, of the «Servir Portimão» coalition.
In response, the vice president of the autarchy, Joaquim Castelão Rodrigues, underlined the expenses that the municipalities served by this route have to bear, with firefighters and security, considering that such expenses should be assumed either by the concession company of the operation, Aero Vip , or by the Ministry of Internal Administration.
In the case of Portimão, the route concessionaire company was also exempted from paying the take-off and landing fee at the Municipal Aerodrome, in addition to having paid the municipality for the remodeling works at the terminal, which, despite everything, "with or without an airline, they were fundamental considering the large movement of paratroopers that we have here».
With regard to firefighters, the operation implies that, half an hour before and after landing and taking off, a team of five people, with two fire fighting vehicles and an ambulance, is present at the Aerodrome. "This has costs", underlined the vice president of the Chamber.
It was also necessary to invest in training firefighters and in the purchase of vehicles, which «also serve for other purposes, to fight fires in the city itself and to support the heliport».
Another cost, even heavier, is that of passenger safety, which, in the case of the Portimão Aerodrome, is ensured by the GNR. The latter sees acting as a paid service and not as a result of its mission. «We have already received three invoices from GNR, at an average of 153,18 euros per flight. At the end of the year, we will have to pay around 70 thousand euros», highlighted Castelão Rodrigues.
Castelão Rodrigues: «We don't have the money for that, so it's preferable, to keep it that way, to drop this airline»
«The GNR of Portimão made a letter to the General Command, to find out if it is a paid service or not. We, the mayors of the municipalities served by the route, understand that we have nothing to pay, because it is a public service, because, in the tickets for these flights, there is a security fee that reverts to the Ministry of Internal Administration».
“This will cost us more than 70 thousand euros a year and, according to visas, the return is almost nil, with such five passengers on average per flight. We don't have the money for that, so it's preferable, to keep it that way, to drop this airline”, concluded Castelão Rodrigues, who also committed to ask the company Aero Vip, the concessionaire of the route, “a report” on the situation. “Just last week it was very foggy in Bragança and the plane did not take off”, commented the mayor.
Opposition councilor José Pedro Caçorino defended the elaboration of a “report of costs/benefits”, noting that “the municipality is bearing very high costs with that operation”.
«We were told that, with this new route, they would come to Portimão not chinese palletsbut pallets of our fellow citizens of the North”, he joked, but the numbers are very weak, “despite the fact that they refer to winter”.
"I am very skeptical about this operation", added the councilor of the coalition "serve Portimão", defending that "it is the private person to pay the cost of the operation".
The new regional air route is supported by the State, which grants the concessionaire a total of 7,8 million euros, for the total three years of the concession.
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