The Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport revealed in Horta that flight connections between Terceira, Lisbon and Porto will increase 36% in terms of frequency and 27% in the number of seats provided by the next IATA summer.
 
Speaking at the Legislative Assembly, Vítor Fraga pointed out, as announced, that TAP and SATA will reinforce flight connections. As he revealed," there will be 35,661 more seats compared to those provided in 2015."
 
The Regional Secretary also recalled that SATA Internacional reinforced the number of flights to Lajes by 46% last year, having registered 107 more flights than in the previous year.
 
Under the revision of Public Service Obligations (PSO) for Inter-island Air Transport, SATA Air Açores "has reinforced its presence in Lajes by 20% in terms of frequency, taking advantage of Terceira's central position as a platform of aggregation and distribution of passengers to all islands," added the government official.
 
Vítor Fraga also stated that the number of SATA Internacional passengers landed on Terceira grew 53%, while the number of SATA Air Açores passenger landed on the same island grew 20% in the last quarter, after the revision of PSO.
 
In response to questions about the constraints of civil operation in Lajes, Vítor Fraga said that these "are operational in nature" and concern "the interconnection of the services provided by civil component, Portuguese Air Force and U.S. Air Force."
 
The Regional Secretary expressed his belief that these constraints can be minimised "by establishing a protocol for civilian use of the Air Base, where all parties know their powers and how far they can go. The aim is to streamline the entire operation and not hinder so that we may avoid the possibility of taking arbitrary actions that are, often, misunderstood by the parties involved and cause entropy."
 
Nevertheless, Vítor Fraga defended that it is necessary to safeguard the safety of people and means, which cannot be confused with constraints.
 
"When this safety is called into question by someone, we have to respect the decision that this person takes regarding the impracticability or not of certain operation," said the government official.
 
Asked about the operation of low cost companies in the Azores, Vítor Fraga explained that "the Region did not pay and does not pay them any amount, directly or indirectly," to fly from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada.
 
The Regional Secretary reminded that there is a contract signed with Ryanair for a campaign in the UK to promote the route London to Ponta Delgada," representing an investment of 98 thousand Euros. This is a joint promotional campaign.
 
"This is the only joint campaign and is being carried out in Europe. It is not meant to promote the routes Lisbon/Porto to the Region," stressed the government official. In this regard, he ensured that the "amounts paid by the Regional Government or by any regional body to low cost companies to fly from Mainland Portugal to the Azores are non-existent."
 
As for the construction of the new Air Cargo Terminal at Lajes Civil Airport, Vítor Fraga clarified that the problem arises from the need to remove the land from military public domain.
 
"The project is under revision in accordance with legal requirements, given its complexity. It is estimated to be completed by early March, after which the launch of the respective tender will be solely conditioned to the removal of land from military public domain," said the government official.
 
However, the Regional Secretary stressed that "we have not lowered our arms in the effort to boost the export of cargo during this period" and, even without this infrastructure, "this legislative period registered a 34% growth in air cargo from Terceira, which demonstrates that we have overcome difficulties."