The pilot project to limit air fares with the peninsula returns to the starting box

This was announced by the Ministry to the general director of Transport of the Government of the Canary Islands, María Fernández, during the joint commission to monitor air transport held in Gran Canaria last week.

A frozen project

The initial idea was that the implementation of a Public Service Obligation (PSO) on the air route between Lanzarote and Madrid would be launched over the course of last year. to be able to limit the price of tickets and test the behavior of the market on the dates of greatest demand, in which a disproportionate increase in rates has been detected.

The stoppage caused by the concatenation of two electoral processes – the regional elections in May and the early general elections in July – left the pilot project in a drawerand although the state government assures that it does not give up on implementing it, it has communicated its intention to study the options again with the new Ministry team to present a proposal to the Canary Islands Executive.

In this new phase of study, Transport will analyze, among other aspects, the suitability of the Lanzarote-Madrid route, which was chosen by agreement of the previous Government of the Canary Islands with the previous minister, Raquel Sánchez, without ruling out the possibility of proposing an alternative route with fewer connections in order to overcome possible objections from the European Union to approving a PSO on a route operated by several airlines.

The announced intention of the airlines to appeal the OSP before the European Commission if it is implemented It also obliges the Executive to take extreme care when designing the conditions of the formula chosen to avoid exorbitant prices without violating the right to free competition.

A socialist motion approved

In parallel with the recognition by the Ministry that the project has been frozen until now, the joint Congress-Senate commission on insularity approved a PSOE motion in which it urges the state government to, after “the pertinent consultations”, analyze the possibility of carrying out a pilot experience of OSP declaration in the air connection of the Canary Islands – without specifying the island – with the rest of the national territory, to establish a price reference maximum and analyze its effects on the connectivity of residents and visitors, so that “it allows valid conclusions to be drawn for possible subsequent actions.”

It so happens that the CC spokesperson on the insularity commission, Senator Pedro San Ginés, did not support the socialist motion, which he described as “not very serious” and abstained, understanding that “there is no need to start more studies” since a year ago “all the options were already analyzed and it was decided that the ideal route to apply a PSO was between Lanzarote and Madrid.” ».

San Gines maintains that the socialist initiative is “a toast to the sun” and “a tease” and remembers that the appearance of the Minister of Transport, requested by CC, is still pending to explain “the reasons for so much delay” in implementing the measure.