The Bloco de Esquerda/Faial BE-Left Block political party) demands immediate clarification from ANA, the Government of the Republic, the Regional Government, and the Horta City Council about the undisputed news that Horta airport’s security strips will be created on the airport’s current runway, in practice reducing the size of the runway and, compromising the airport’s operability when traveling to Lisbon.

At a time when a public tender is underway for the airport expansion project, financed by the Government of the Republic and the Regional Government, the Bloc finds it incomprehensible and unacceptable that, in the end, the investment in this project is to be thrown away by ANA which, according to reports in the newspaper Tribuna das Ilhas, intends to opt to include the creation of the security lanes on the existing runway.

ANA, the concessionaire for the country’s airports, privatized by the PSD/CDS government, makes millions in profits – 300 million in 2022 alone – and has at least the obligation to maintain and improve the operation of Horta Airport. The Government of the Republic and the Regional Government cannot collude with this situation and must reject ANA’s decision outright.

in Tribuna das Ilhas–Faial, Azores