The President of the Government highlighted today the merits of the air accessibility model currently in force in the Region. Nevertheless, he added that this system needs improvements that will allow it to harness the full potential to serve the Azoreans and the archipelago's economy.
 
"The model developed and implemented by the Azorean Government has something that is untouchable: air accessibility to our Region and its potential to serve the Azoreans and the economy of the Azores," stated Vasco Cordeiro during a debate on this matter at the Legislative Assembly in Horta.
 
According to him, the changes to the air accessibility system in the Autonomous Region of the Azores with the entry into force of this new model in March 2015 do not represent a mere decrease in the price of air fares.
 
"There are much more profound changes that condition some of the positions that have been expressed in this debate," said Vasco Cordeiro. In this context, he defended that the liberalisation of routes should not mean that private airlines "get the best part, but when the model has some deficiencies, SATA is responsible for correcting them. "
 
"It does not work that way and I do not believe anyone has realised this just now," Vasco Cordeiro said, recalling that the Regional Government met with the then Minister of Economy, Álvaro Santos Pereira on August 18, 2011 to propose a change to the model of air accessibility to the Region.
 
"This proposal was forgotten for about three years and it was not until the entry into office of the Minister of the Economy of CDS/PP party that the matter was finally addressed," recalled Vasco Cordeiro.
 
The President of the Government also mentioned that "there are several voices in protest because the budget limit was now mentioned." However, the truth is that, when the current model was approved in 2015, with praise from various parties, it already included a budget limit of 16 million Euros.
 
"Taking into account the data regarding 2017, the fact is that the model currently reaches 26 million Euros. What would become of us if we still had a Government led by PSD when we reached this figure? The Azoreans would have long ceased to benefit from social mobility subsidy," said the government official.
 
In his speech delivered at Legislative Assembly, the President of the Government also rejected that the solution lies in the increase of maximum prices, pointing out the example of what happened in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
 
"The model of Madeira, with a budget limit of 11 million Euros and maximum cost for air travel in 2017, has already exceeded 30 million Euros," said Vasco Cordeiro.
 
Before the members of the Azorean Parliament, the President of the Government restated that, if opposition parties consider that the model needs improvement, they should submit their proposals so that it may fulfil what was highly praised back then: its budget limit of 16 million Euros.