I believe there was an article in Madeira Opina written by a Madeiran employee at Dubai Airport, perhaps someone who has experienced that inefficiency is resolved more with intelligence than with money, two qualities that Eduardo Jesus lacks; he’s there to be a puppet of local businessmen.
The reality is harsh, real, and repetitive. Thousands of passengers stranded, hotels overcrowded with exhausted people, and an external image of disorganization that travels the world in minutes. Our airport is like Funchal at the end of the day, with its chaotic traffic – another consequence of the unregulated tourism attracted to a small and unprepared island.
Airlines, driven by profit and efficiency, are reaching the limit of their patience. Passengers complain about every operational disruption, and the companies suddenly change their seasonal schedules. Without technical or operational solutions to mitigate the constant diversions and cancellations, the risk of flight losses or reduced frequencies is real. Madeira may be covered in gold, but it’s the airlines that will fill the island. They decide the destination that suits them.
While the wind lashes the runway, the official response seems to be to wait for the storm to pass, ignoring the fact that market confidence doesn’t recover as easily as the sky clears.
It’s not enough to say that Madeira is a destination of excellence if the gateway is a climatic Russian roulette without a safety net. If March confirms the wind forecasts and chaos sets in without a viable alternative plan, involving proper passenger management and technical solutions for access, we may be witnessing the beginning of an avoidable decline. This, along with the Gulf War and the high cost of everything, will contribute… especially when we choose the barefoot tourism of low-cost airlines. Will so much error lead to beginner’s luck?
Tourism thrives on hospitality, but it survives on reliability. Without it, Madeira becomes a risk that many operators will no longer want to take. There’s no point in planning to expand the terminal with such a problem unresolved, simply because Eduardo Jesus doesn’t like the Porto Santo solution. He must be waiting for a miracle.