Group cites State’s ‘non-payment’ of almost €4 million
The Sevenair Group announced today that the Portimão-Bragança air link will stop on Monday due to the non-payment of the service by the State, which has a total debt of €3.8 million.
“Due to the cash flow bottleneck, the service provided for more than 15 years will be interrupted on September 30, due to manifest impossibility, in view of the failure to comply with the contractual obligations assumed by the Portuguese State,’ explained the group in a statement sent to Lusa news agency.
The concession contract for the Bragança/Vila Real/Viseu/Cascais/Portimão (and vice-versa) scheduled air transport service ended on February 28 this year, and two direct agreements were signed to keep the line running while the government launched an international tender for the service concession.
In January, Sevenair signed a first direct agreement with the previous government, which ran from March to June, for €750,000 – and with the current government a second direct agreement was signed, valid until September, for €900,000.
But no money has ever come forwards.
“The truth is that on September 30 both contracts will be concluded and executed by Sevenair, without the State having paid any money this year, 2024, nor has it paid any outstanding amounts from previous years, which, added to the deposits made by the company as a guarantee, mean that the State’s total debt is already around €3,800,000”, reveals the group.
A new international public tender for the concession of the service has been held and was scheduled to start on Tuesday October 1 – but so far the government has remained schtum, saying nothing about it at all.
Says Sevenair: “The company greatly regrets the impact of the suspension on the populations of the northern interior of Portugal that will be affected, as well as the fate of close to a hundred workers linked to this line, at the various stops – including crews, maintenance and handling. These were the reasons that, despite having received nothing in 2024, saw Sevenair continue to maintain the operation as long as humanly and financially possible”.
Source: SIC/ LUSA
