For what would be the third time in a year, Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA Airports), is planning to increase the regulated fees across the country's national airports.
ANA Airports already increased the fees in September by €3,54 (R62) per passenger embarked, after an increase of €2,95 (R52) in February. The latest proposed increase will be an average of about 10,81% from February 1 next year, reports Simple Flying. The increase was attributed to baggage security improvements.
The new increases proposed by ANA Airports are approximately 35 cents (R6,2) in the Azores region, 79 cents (R13,9) in Madeira, 81 cents (R14,2) in Porto, 80 cents (R14,1) in Faro, and €1,53 (R27) in Lisbon.
The operator has cited Portugal’s inflation as the reason for the increase. In August the inflation rate was 8,9%, the highest it has been since October 1992, according to Trading Economics.
TAP Air Portugal has reportedly objected to the proposed increase, saying that it is unjustified given how chaotic Lisbon Airport has been of late.
The airline has said it believes that the fees will be detrimental to Portugal’s aviation industry. "The increases will contribute to worsening the economic situation of TAP Air Portugal, the main customer of the national airports, and the passengers in general.”
