The Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport revealed on Friday in Lisbon that a working group will be immediately created to analyse some of the topics listed in the proposed revision of Public Service Obligations for Air Transport, submitted to the National Government in May 2012.

This working group, consisting of a member of the Regional Government, a member of the Ministry of Economy and a member of the National Institute of Civil Aviation, will be in charge of drafting a report on the proposed revision of Public Service Obligations by the end of November. The political decision on the implementation of the new Public Service Obligations will be made until the end of December.

Speaking to journalists after the end of a meeting with the Minister of Economy, Vítor Fraga stated that Pires de Lima "was very receptive to the proposal" presented by the Government of the Azores. However, "there are some aspects that need to be further analysed and studied together."

Hence, this working group will be established with the mission of "searching for a consensus on the aspects of the proposal that are not welcomed by the National Government" in order to create "a proposal that fully defends the interests of the Azores and the Azoreans."

For Vítor Fraga, "the mobility of Azorean citizens must be safeguarded either in this proposal or in future Public Service Obligations."

"Any Azorean from any island should have the possibility of travelling to Mainland Portugal and Madeira at the same price, a fair and balanced price that is set in our proposal at 134 Euros," said the government official.

Furthermore, the Azorean proposal also intends "to open the air space, allowing other air operators to operate in the Azores, said Vítor Fraga, stressing that the Regional Government hopes that "some operators be interested in conducting passenger services in the Azores."

The Regional Secretary assured that "the situation of residents and students is one of the aspects of the proposal on which we stand firm, seeing that "we must ensure the mobility of all Azoreans, whether residents or students, at a single, fair and balanced price."

The Regional Government intends that the new Public Service Obligations enter into effect before the next IATA summer season.