40% of TAP trips are priced above 400 euros. Madeirans have to pay, on average, 260 euros to travel to the mainland from today until the 15th of January 2026.
Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP) expressed its “deep displeasure” with the PSD’s decision to reject the request submitted by deputy Filipe Sousa to hold a hearing with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAP Air Portugal, according to a press release sent to local newspapers.
The request, submitted on the 4th of November, aimed to clarify the airline’s pricing policy on connections between the mainland and the Autonomous Region of Madeira, whose fares, according to the JPP, “far exceed any criterion of economic reasonableness and severely penalise Madeirans and Porto Santeans.”
By refusing this hearing, the PSD has once again chosen to protect TAP’s political and institutional comfort, to the detriment of the public interest and the elementary right of citizens to mobility, at prices equal to those practised in the market for identical distances and not the speculation to which TAP has become accustomed with the connivance of the PSD, CDS and PS. States Filipe Sousa, JPP deputy to the Assembly of the Republic
The deputy pointed out that the decision ignores the impact of fares above 400 euros per journey and trips that can exceed one thousand euros (round trip) on residents and students from Madeira and Porto Santo, as well as discrimination against those who cannot access the so-called “promotional fares.”
Filipe Sousa also accused the PSD/CDS of recidivism. “They had already failed to resolve the limitations of the Social Mobility Allowance, repeatedly preventing a fair model in which beneficiaries only pay the unsubsidized part,” the statement reads.
The parliamentarian specifically criticised the stance of deputy Vânia Jesus (PSD/CDS Madeira), who, on Wednesday, said that the request “would not add anything new” on TAP’s prices, a position that, according to the JPP, translates into an alignment with a “logic of blockage, opacity and unaccountability.”
He went on to add:
“After rejecting the JPP’s request, the PSD, represented by Madeiran Vânia Jesus, once again adopted a stance of obstruction, opacity, and lack of accountability. She claimed that a JPP hearing would bring nothing new to the debate over TAP’s high prices, essentially supporting a “shut up and put up” approach and staunchly defending TAP’s pricing on the route to the Region. This statement suggests that these parties are in the Assembly of the Republic not to stand up for what is fair for Madeirans, but to serve the centralist interests of the PSD/CDS.”
“The PSD, by preventing this hearing, does a disservice to the country and, in particular, to the Autonomous Region of Madeira. Closing doors to scrutiny is closing doors to the solution,” concluded Filipe Sousa, stressing that the JPP will continue to fight, inside and outside Parliament, for TAP to be called to account for its practices and to ensure fair mobility for the residents of Madeira and Porto Santo.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
