Ryanair Slams Portugal for Blocking New Morocco Flights, Citing EU Law Violation

"Ryanair has been operating between Portugal and Morocco for over three years and it is inexplicable that the Ministry of Infrastructure has not issued standard flight authorizations to allow these flights to operate," the airline denounces, adding that there is "no good reason for this illegal action, which constitutes a flagrant violation of EU law, on the functioning of the EU Open Skies Agreement".

To read: Ryanair Accuses Portugal of Illegally Blocking Flights to Morocco, Affecting Thousands

For the Irish low-cost airline, the responsibilities must be located, mainly at the level of the officials in charge of flight authorizations. "It is simply scandalous that anonymous bureaucrats from the Ministry of Infrastructure refused to stay at their desks on Friday to resolve this matter, but instead left for the weekend, destroying the vacation plans of more than 3,000 of their citizens," regrets Jason McGuinness, the company’s sales director.

This conflict between Ryanair and the Portuguese authorities is an extension of the one that pits the Irish company against TAP, the Portuguese national airline. Ryanair had criticized its competitor in October, noting that TAP’s "continued hoarding" which "does not use" take-off and landing slots, forces Ryanair to cancel 700 scheduled flights for this winter.

To read: article 87367

Faced with the situation that is causing it significant damage, Ryanair is calling on the Portuguese government and the European Commission to "now intervene to end TAP’s anti-competitive slot blocking, free up this unused capacity in Lisbon to allow airlines to grow". And to add: "Portugal’s national infrastructure must be used to support the local economy, not to protect an inefficient zombie airline, for which the Portuguese government has already wasted 3 billion euros".