Air link between Bragança and the Algarve at risk

The route linking Trás-os-Montes to the Algarve could be at risk, Sérgio Leal, flight director for Sevenair, which operates the route, told Lusa today.

“As far as Sevenair is concerned, we don’t say this with any pleasure, not least because we believe and know that this is a line of real interest to the country,” said Sérgio Leal.

The concession linking Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Tires (Cascais) and Portimão will end on February 28 next year.

Furthermore, if the amounts presented by the government as compensation for providing the service remain as they are, which has been 2.4 million euros per year, and even if a direct award is proposed until the conclusion of a future tender, the company said it has “neither the interest nor the conditions” to continue operating.

To this compensatory measure given by the state, ticket sales are added as revenue. But the amount raised has been insufficient.

“It’s been making a loss for some time. This last tender was notorious. Every year, on fuel alone, compared to what we initially presented in our proposal four years ago, we’ve seen [expenses] more than double. We’ve had annual losses in this area alone of around 300,000 euros,” Sérgio Leal explained, also mentioning substantial increases in aircraft maintenance.

“Since 2009, there has never been an adjustment. And in 2015 we added two routes: Viseu and Portimão,” lamented Sérgio Leal, who stressed that they had already raised their concerns with the government and the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC).

As for the public tenders, Sérgio Leal explained that they are usually launched six months in advance.

“It’s a tender launched at European Union level (…). That’s why it takes time for operators to get to know the tender documents (…). Then the tender has to be analyzed and approved in the end by the Court of Auditors (…),” described Sérgio Leal.

Regarding the tender, Sérgio Leal said that, initially, they thought it would take place within the timeframes considered normal, because they were contacted at the “end of July, beginning of August”.

“At that time, we had the opportunity to let ANAC know about some of the constraints and losses we had. And, if there was a new tender, we even suggested some changes that would be beneficial to the operation.”

After that, Sérgio Leal guaranteed that they had no further news.

“We are a service provider. That’s not to say that there aren’t other operators who do it. However, since we started operating this line, we are the only ones competing. (…) When no one else is competing, you can already see that it’s not a commercially fantastic line,” stressed Sérgio Leal.

The director said that this warning is a reinforcement of what they have done before, “without waiting until the last minute”.

“If an extension is to be launched, based on the same assumptions as the contract that is now ending, it won’t be of any interest to us. We can’t do it in the current form, without something revised,” stressed Sérgio Leal.

In the last tender, launched in 2018 and concluded in 2019, there was a need for an extension, a request that was granted by the company. This time, and without any changes, this will not happen again.

“We have no conditions or interest in doing so. We want to fulfill our responsibilities until the end, as we have been doing (…). Until February 28, we will fly. No longer than that,” assured Sérgio Leal.

In 2023, the airline, which operates with an 18-seater plane, carried around 13,000 passengers and is on an “upward curve”, according to data from the company responsible. In 2018, pre-pandemic numbers, it carried around 12,000 travelers. During the pandemic and with works on the Vila Real runway, occupancy fell to 40%.

Bragança has had regular flights to Lisbon since 1997. The connection was interrupted between 2012 and 2015, by decision of the then government, and resumed in 2015 with a three-year concession contract and the extension of flights to the Algarve.

At the end of 2018, the continuity of the service was called into question because the contract was coming to an end and a new tender had not yet been launched. In December of that year, the government announced the opening of the tender for a longer period of four years.

Lusa has tried to contact the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, but has received no reply so far.