In the middle of the Atlantic, where distance is not an abstraction but a daily reality, a growing chorus of concern is turning into a call for action. The Associação dos Consumidores da Região Açores (ACRA) has issued an urgent manifesto on mobility, warning that the current management of the archipelago’s airports by ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, controlled by VINCI Airports, has created what it describes as a “bottleneck” restricting access to and from the Azores.

The document, released this week, urges the Azorean Regional Government to abandon what the association calls its inertia and to lead a united front—bringing together the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Azores and civil society—to file a formal complaint with the European Commission and Portugal’s Competition Authority. At the heart of the dispute is the current airport fee structure, which ACRA argues is undermining accessibility and economic sustainability in one of Europe’s most remote regions.

“Not Market Forces, But Policy Failure”

ACRA’s message is blunt: the recent reduction in flights by Ryanair and the loss of frequencies are not natural market corrections but the result of systemic policy failure. According to the association, the entity controlling the airports effectively governs the only gateway into an isolated territory—making it an “essential infrastructure” that cannot be treated like a conventional commercial asset.

To ignore this, the manifesto argues, is to relinquish economic sovereignty and to violate the spirit of Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which requires European policies to be adapted to the specific realities of outermost regions like the Azores.

A Privatization Under Scrutiny

The association anchors its claims in Report No. 16/2023 by Portugal’s Court of Auditors, which criticized the privatization of ANA as a process that prioritized immediate financial gain over long-term public interest. The report concluded that the concessionaire has been able to extract “monopolistic rents” through a tariff model heavily tilted in its favor, while shifting financial risks onto users.

ACRA also challenges the original 50-year concession agreement, arguing that the state never demonstrated the necessity of such an extended term. Any effort to prolong it further, the group contends, would amount to what it calls a “financial delusion.”

A Legal Strategy Rooted in Europe

Looking beyond Lisbon, ACRA is framing its case within established European legal precedent, including the Aéroport de Paris vs. European Commission ruling, which places airport management firmly under EU competition law. Under these rules, VINCI is prohibited from engaging in abuse of a dominant position, as outlined in Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The association argues that long-term concession contracts cannot remain static when conditions fundamentally change. In the case of the Azores—where accessibility is not just economic but existential—the state has a legal obligation to intervene to ensure territorial continuity.

A Path Forward: Revising the Deal

ACRA is proposing a direct and immediate course of action: renegotiate the concession contract with VINCI, reduce its duration, and introduce a so-called “outermost regions clause” to cap airport fees in the Azores. The model, it notes, already exists in Spain’s AENA system in the Canary Islands, where significant fee reductions are applied to reflect geographic isolation.

A Warning—and a Call

The manifesto closes on a note that is both cautionary and urgent. History, ACRA warns, will not be kind to those who remain silent in the face of these findings. If the Regional Government refuses to pursue a legal challenge, the association insists, civil society must take the helm—defending the region’s economic fabric and the rights of Azorean consumers.

In a place where mobility is lifeblood, the question now is whether the Azores will continue to accept the terms imposed upon it—or fight to redefine them.

Translated and adptated from a news story in Diário Insular, José Lourenço-director.