The Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport, Vítor Fraga, met with the Cabinet of the Secretary of State of Public Works, Transport and Communications on Thursday morning. During the meeting, the government official conveyed the Regional Government's intentions regarding the operation of Santa Maria airport.

The Cabinet of the Secretary of State expressed its willingness to ensure, among ANA, the safeguarding of these claims in order to guarantee the airport's operating conditions, thus preventing Santa Maria from losing its relevance for technical stopovers.

ANA-Aeroportos has recently decided, unilaterally and without communicating its decision to the Government of the Azores, to close the Santa Maria Airport in the period between 9:30 PM and 6 AM. Furthermore, aircrafts wishing to make a technical stop during this period are required to send a notification up to 1 PM of the day prior the scheduled stop.

These decisions taken by ANA have made technical stopovers impracticable at Santa Maria Airport between 9:30 PM and 6 AM, which has caused direct damages to the entities operating at the airport and their employees.

During a meeting held with the president of ANA on Wednesday, Vítor Fraga received the assurance that this entity will do everything within its reach to maintain technical stopovers at Santa Maria Airport in that period of time.