The head of Portugal’s French-owned airports operator, ANA, said today that Ryanair is "free to leave."
ANA’s Chief Executive, Thierry Ligonnière, explained to Parliament that the Irish airline has no contractual obligation to continue to fly in and out of Portugal and can withdraw whenever it wanted to.
Ligonnière stated on Wednesday that should Ryanair decide to leave Portugal, "unfortunately they have every right to do so, they have the freedom to say that they are leaving, they have already done this in other countries."
Thierry Ligonnière explained to the Committee on Economy, Innovation and Public Works that part of ANA's job, "is to give airlines fees and incentives for them to consider Portugal attractive and to provide the operational conditions that accords with their activity."
"Ryanair could say that it does not find the operational and economic conditions sufficient to fulfill its objectives and can stop its operations," said the Chief Executive, adding that if Ryanair pulled out midway through a contracted promotional period, it would have to buy out the remaining contract period but “there are no contractual obligation for it to stay, so Ryanair can say at any moment that it is leaving."
Thierry Ligonnière assured MPs that the ‘incentive’ money Ryanair is handed at the moment is no more than the other low-cost airlines get to encourage them to fly to Portugal, each sharing around €22 million-a-year.
As for the new airport at Montijo, Ligonnière said that the environmental and strategic assessment reports are ready, if they are needed as part of the legal process prior to converting the air base, and that ANA already has received "expressions of interest" from airlines to "be the first" to operate from Montijo.”
ANA’s plans for Beja airport, far from developing the former German Airforce base as a destination to serve the Alentejo’s tourism sector, Ligonnière said the airport is a long way away for it to serve as an overspill for Lisbon and that it was to be used for the long-term parking of aircraft.
