The Regional Government has called on the national government to resolve a series of problems affecting the Territorial Continuity Mechanism (MCT), including delayed payments, difficulties with Ryanair documents and a platform that still cannot accept students’ enrolment certificates for the new academic year.
Beneficiaries who previously received payment within two or three working days of approval are now waiting considerably longer, with some cases approaching two weeks. The approval of applications itself generally takes more than two weeks, according to the Regional Secretariat for Tourism, Environment and Culture, and requests for corrections can add another two weeks, forcing passengers to bear the brunt of airfares for longer.
In a new letter to the Secretary of State for Public Administration, the Regional Government identified five further problems, in addition to ten it had raised on 17th of August. Since the beginning of September, Ryanair has stopped including taxpayers’ identification numbers (NIF) on the travel receipt used for MCT applications. Passengers can instead provide a separate VAT receipt showing their NIF, but the Regional Government says this creates a problem for those who bought tickets before the change.
The platform has also been unable to pair two one-way tickets since mid-June. The Regional Secretariat warned that the continued suspension could cause passengers to miss the 90-day deadline for submitting claims. It wants the function restored and a way to correct payments for people who had to submit their tickets separately.
Students, meanwhile, are still unable to upload enrolment certificates for the 2026–2027 academic year. The Regional Government has also asked for support to be assessed according to a passenger’s eligibility on the date of travel, where their circumstances change afterwards.
The Secretariat argues that technical faults and changes to document requirements beyond passengers’ control should not prevent them from receiving support. It has urged the authorities responsible for the mechanism to introduce corrective measures as soon as possible.
Reacting to the Regional Government’s warning, PS-Madeira MP Emanuel Câmara accused the national government of failing to resolve problems that had long been identified. He also criticised the Regional Government and PSD deputies elected by Madeira, saying they should have defended passengers’ interests sooner.
Câmara described the continuing difficulties as evidence of either a lack of ability or “bad faith” on the part of the national government. He also claimed the situation showed the Regional Government’s lack of influence within an administration led by the same political party.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Views: 38
