The President of the Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, will meet on Wednesday with a representative of Ryanair to try to minimise the effects of the withdrawal of one of the two aircraft based here in Madeira from January next year, due to the increase in airport charges by ANA/Vinci.
Speaking to journalists, Miguel Albuquerque revealed that the meeting aims to “minimise the effects” of the withdrawal of one of the planes and try to maintain the number of flights that currently operate to and from the island.
“The intention is to remove one of the flights from the base here, but that doesn’t mean we have fewer flights. What we have is to try to maintain the number of operations we have had now,” stressed Miguel Albuquerque.
This comes after Ryanair made an announcement today:
“Unfortunately, we are here to announce cuts, because we have recently fallen victim to the ANA/Vinci monopoly, which has extraordinarily increased airport charges for next year,” the Irish airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, announced at a press conference in Lisbon.
Responding to this, Miguel Albuquerque pointed out that the issue of fees “goes a little beyond” the executive and considered that this is a discussion that has more “to do with the national context than with Madeira itself.”
For the President of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), Ryanair’s decision in the autonomous region is more related to “operational issues” than airport charges.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
