The PSD deputies elected by the Algarve want to know what guidelines the Government intends to give to TAP, "in the sense of filling the gaps of other airlines that fly to the region and that for health or other reasons do not do so".
In a question addressed to the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, deputies Cristóvão Norte, Rui Cristina and Ofélia Ramos stated that they wanted “to safeguard TAP flights to the Algarve, a region heavily dependent on tourism and the hotel sector”.
The PSD recalls that it has been made public that TAP plans to resume its operation and that it proposes to ensure, in a first phase, 71 flights, 63 of which originate or depart from Lisbon, and only the remaining 8 will be distributed through Porto airports. , Faro, Funchal and Ponta Delgada.
"What steps will it take to ensure that TAP resumes its operations, in accordance with the health regulations in force, and that it effectively serves the Portuguese, respecting a geographical distribution of its lines that is not exclusively based on a service limited to the Lisbon and Vale region the Tagus, namely to the Algarve, a region to which TAP has fewer connections?”, ask the deputies.
In a hearing that took place at the Assembly of the Republic, on April 29, minister Pedro Nuno Santos had stated that "if the Portuguese people pay, it is good that the Portuguese people are in charge", in an allusion to the financial situation of the airline TAP and the need to guarantee public support to ensure the company's subsistence.
For the PSD deputies, TAP's flight proposal "is inadequate, based on the logic of an airline that does not respond equally to geographically distributed needs, many of these needs are already being felt in relation to territories that chronically are not in the number priority of TAP, in the period prior to this pandemic and in which the reasons invoked by the Government to intervene in the company's management and reverse its privatization seem, after all, not to be 'to take it literally'”.
The deputies regret that the International Airport of Faro continue to be “ignored by TAP, its contribution being historically marginal to the embarkation/disembarkation of passengers in the region, since direct connections are made mainly to national territory and in a scarce number”. “It is known that the region lacks, due to its economic profile, direct international flights, which have been provided by other airlines”, they stress.
These are the questions that the PSD addressed to the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing:
1. What steps will it take so that TAP resumes its operations, in accordance with the health regulations in force, and that it effectively serves the Portuguese, respecting a geographical distribution of its lines that is not exclusively based on a service limited to the Lisbon region and Vale do Tejo, namely to the Algarve, a region to which TAP has fewer connections?
2. Does the Government guarantee that it will give guidance to TAP in order to fill the gaps of other airlines that fly to the region and that for health or other reasons do not do so, thus ensuring the essential tourist flows for the region?
Comments