After the announcement made by budget airline Ryanair about the possibility of exiting the market, the Association of Local Accommodation of the Azores (ALA) displayed concern.
A previous survey that the organization had conducted revealed that around 42% of respondents said that they would face direct consequences of the exit of the low-cost airline.
Moreover, the data further suggests that if Ryanair goes on to halt flights that are departing for the Azores during off-peak seasons, ALA would lose out on revenue of around 31%.
Negative consequences
In the words of the ALA, Ryanair shutting down its business is going to impact the entire region as a whole and cause various difficulties.
It will lead to a decline in tourism in the off-seasons and make promotions for Azores destinations largely ineffective.
Moreover, tourism will further decline in outbound markets since the large capacity of the budget airline will not be available to people.
Negotiations
On the 27th of July, Berta Carbal, the regional secretary for Tourism, Mobility, and Infrastructure, spoke about the matter.
She revealed that the Regional Government is currently in negotiations with Ryanair to ensure that the operational base of the airline, located in the archipelago, progresses positively.
According to her, Ryanair is showing promising progress, and things are going well.
However, she pointed out that there are some matters that have yet to be sorted, which mainly involve the ANA (Aeroportos de Portugal) Vinci.
Berta stressed that such pending issues could cause harm to all three parties, which is why an agreement needs to be made, and all involved need to reach a consensus.
But during this period, new reports revealed that no agreement had been reached between the Azores government and Ryanair.
Consequently, the government would not be able to support the operational base of the airline in the archipelago.
Ryanair comments
The CEO of the airline, Eddie Wilson, also confirmed that negotiations are ongoing at the moment.
However, he indicated that no significant progress has been made since the beginning, which would encourage the company not to exit the market.
Meanwhile, the largest airport situated in the Azores, which is the Ponta Delgada Airport, has experienced growth in passenger traffic over the last couple of years.
Data revealed in the previous year reported that the airport had severed over 2,000,000 passengers.
This was a remarkable increase of 77.5%, as compared to the count recorded in the previous year, which stood at 1,248,717.
The data further indicated that the upward trend also continued by the time May 2023 rolled around.
Around 253, 362 passengers at the time were using the airport, and they demonstrated an increase of over 29% when compared to May 2022.
Back in May of last year, almost 196,369 passengers had been recorded for using the airport.
Currently, Ryanair is undergoing various internal issues as well, especially with its employees being unhappy.
Just recently, the pilots of the airline took to launching a strike to protest against low pay and miserable working conditions.
