Albuquerque warns that a ceiling is the guarantee for safeguarding many air connections from Madeira.
Miguel Albuquerque warned this Friday that the end of the cap on the Social Subsidy for Air Mobility could jeopardize 48% of Madeira’s air operations, admitting that the limitation may have to remain in place to protect connections to the Region.
“If 48% of the operation to Madeira is at stake, we have to make a decision and choose what is best for Madeira,” stated the President of the Regional Government, referring to the combined weight of easyJet and Ryanair in air connections to the Region.
During a visit to an exhibition at Quinta Magnólia in Funchal, Albuquerque advocated caution in applying the new subsidy model, arguing that the elimination of the maximum co-financing limit could compromise the predictability needed by private transport companies to plan their operations.
According to the governor, the absence of a ceiling removes stability from the market, especially for last-minute bookings, affecting the ability of private companies to plan the supply available to the Region.
As a point of comparison, Albuquerque pointed out that the Azores, despite registering a lower volume of passengers than Madeira, bore almost double the public expenditure on air travel, a scenario he attributes to the lack of a ceiling on the eligible value of tickets in that model.
The president of the Madeiran Executive also warned that this same system contributed to the unpredictability of air operations in the Azores archipelago, a situation which, he argued, was the reason for Ryanairs exit from that market.